Rolling Girl
by Novae Luna
Summary: "I like you. And I know you don't like me back. I know you like Lyra, and have for the longest time. But please date me. Just as a little favor, will you? Ahahaha. It doesn't have to mean anything. (Laugh). I would be a fool to think you would ever like me." -This is how this story starts, with a one fingered salute to being alive, and an unnatural yearning to be anything but.
1. desolation rules this lonely empire

**i. desolation rules this lonely empire**

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><p><em>"I like you. And I know you don't like me back. I know you like Lyra, and have for the longest time. But please date me. Just as a little favor, will you? Ahahaha. It doesn't have to mean anything. (Laugh). I would be a fool to think you would ever like me, wouldn't I? (So won't you play along with me?)"<em>

She slips the note into the locker in front of her, trying to fight a frown from appearing on her lips. Forcing a grin, she smiles across the campus, and, giggling, she makes a mental note to kill herself later for this. This is horribly idiotic and stupid, but it's not like the others will expect anything different from her. But she smiles; she smiles and smiles because she knows that he will never fall in love with her, and somewhere in the back of her head, she knows this is wrong, but she just raises her hand in a one-fingered salute (the glorious middle finger; called the bird only because of how free-flying it is) at a teacher, and when the teacher glares at her, she sticks out her tongue, pulls down her bottom eyelid, and quickly runs away.

She runs around the campus, ignoring the protests she hears from the various professors, and she mocks all of the students who jeer at her.

Kris laughs at them all, and she goes and searches for those two that she hates so much. She searches for Lyra and Ethan, the former who hates her and the latter who is always silent around her. She goes to make fun of them. They were her enemies. It was all so _stupid, really, _because she knows that humans are just stupid and they're horribly fickle, but Kris just keeps on pretending that she's stupider than the others to make herself superior. Really, the others were the fools, to not notice that she was just pretending.

After all, life is too short; is it not? Especially for her, who just mocks it. Why waste it on people who you don't care about? Why was it so important to make others think better of you? Kris always wanted to be different from those idiots who called themselves humans, so she put on a show to make herself seem as nonredeemable as possible.

(She laughs.)

Wondering if the person she liked has seen her paper, she frowns again and puts on a false mask.

_Laugh, and the others can't do anything to you that might make you seem stupid. If you act stupid already, then no one will have the advantage over you._

She laughs crazily at how moronic the world seems, and then settles down for a (not as rare as she would like) moment of seriousness and depression.

_This inferiority complex could only be developed by someone as stupid as her._

So, still running around with her Running Shoes and hair flying messily around, she waves at all the classrooms she passes, even the one she's supposed to be in currently, before the hall monitors will come searching for her. Hearing the indignant shouts of Green Oak, who quickly takes out his Running Shoes, (Kris always wears hers; she will never wear those horrible designer shoes because really, girls must be really superficial to wear those uncomfortable things all the time) and hurriedly chases after her, waving a late pass behind her as she taunts him.

Red eyes peer at her from a classroom above. High above, where the eyes are almost unable to be seen. Those eyes that she remembers, but can't for some reason.

Kris notices and waves up at them.

-_This is how this story begins._

_Life really is stupid, huh? What a stupid empire._

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><p>AN

***edit***

**Due to extreme changes, the main focus is no longer a love square, although there are still some aspects of it. Noticeably, the two pairings missing would be Ethan liking Lyra and Kris liking Ethan. Sorry for the abrupt change, but please feel free to comment on whether or not I should write a separate story just trying to write about a love square.**


	2. isolation is its queen

**ii. isolation is its queen**

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><p>Kris worries.<p>

She worries, and frets, and cries, but she just won't care.

She worries not about frivolous things like human connections (although she recognizes the importance, she will not fret over it any moment, because they will all die at one point so what use would this have), but about how useful life really is. Thoughts of emotions, useless emotions, the ones which got her acting like this swirl all around in her head, and she shakes them about; she shakes them all around.

_"Nothing's wrong."_

She smiles at Green, who looks at her with an undecipherable look; surely he would understand as well, why she was acting this way, right? And she sees him, Leaf, and Red all look at her with something in their eyes before Green sighs and yells at Kris again. Kris puts her fingers in a "L" shape and raises it to her forehead, before rapidly sprinting off, seeing an evil glare on Green's face. She laughs and yells back at the three.

"I have something to do today! I can't bother you guys right now! Sorry for your loss! Ahahaha, it's time for me to meet up with that bastard I wrote to! I'll bother you guys later!" She sticks out her tongue at the boy right behind her, his menacing aura not intimidating her, and his steps falter due to the familiar tone of voice.

Noticing Green stop and streak his hands through his hair, she wonders when exactly she lost her friends. But she laughs, she laughs, because honestly, if they were her friends, they wouldn't have left her. It was a silent breakaway, but Kris notices with a false smug look on her face that Green stops with a painful look on his face. She grins and salutes him jokingly, like she did before they drifted apart.

"What's wrong, you little moron?" She taunts, laughs, and runs away, not sure whether or not she was truly sad over losing anyone. She pushes them away; she pushes them all away, so that she has no one to blame when everything goes wrong. It's a method of saving everyone from torture. Inevitable pain.

_'Nothing's wrong', she says without a doubt; but when were those words truly there?_

She skids to a stop at the gate of the school, and stares forlornly at the setting sun. She imagines hills, wavy hills, and a desperate girl twirling around. A girl rolling down, forever and forever, to try and keep up with the others. And she imagines a trench at the bottom of that hill. The girl has eyes like hers.

_Bottomless pits._

So she runs to the eastern wing of the dormitories, where a certain red-haired boy was waiting for her. She knows he's rude and mean; a bastard and an arrogant if not slightly endearing jerk. She's knows that she's making a fool of herself by asking him out. But since when did knowing things ever stop her? After all, even after she knew how stupid humans were, making a big deal out of every single emotion and thought. Did that stop her from having fantasies of perfect humans? Nope. Not one bit.

And the rebellious girl winks and grins to herself, knowing that she may really not care one bit what this will end up in, because she knows this is only an extremely small infatuation, but she is prepared to act like she really means it, because god, everyone must be so stupid if they think she'll fall for their tricks.

_One more time; the girl will roll one more time; she doesn't need to breathe. Not at all. Not in where she's headed._

She stops in front of the boy, nearly crashing into him, because she was literally just running ahead, not knowing where she was going or even headed, but the fact that she could get physically hurt keeps her wary. She doesn't like pain. She's suffered enough already.

_Have you even tried to be normal?_

So she tries not to put on a pained face (but really, that was just her **usual** face) and settles for a servile face.

It will not lower her ego one bit, because not once had she ever thought of herself as superior.

"...You know I like Lyra, right?"

"I know, and I also know that you will never like me back," She replies, with a sudden empty feeling in the pit of her stomach, because (unlike what she would wish for) she actually has emotions, but she feels that no one has ever cared about what she felt so she plays it off as being quirky. So she pretends that she has no emotions. After all, everyone hates people with no emotion right? Those unfeeling bastards? Kris smirks a bit at the irony of the situation, that even though she can look through all of their disguises, in the end, she has to put up her own. After all, an unfeeling bitch like her shouldn't have emotions right?

_Why not live up to everyone's expectations? Wasn't it what you tried to do before?_

"So then why are you asking me out?"

Then she decides to truly scare him, to frighten him away, because really, she just needed this last bit to convince herself that life wasn't worth living. Maybe he'd just back away slowly, fearful of this girl's sanity, or something else, but she says one last odd thing to try and convince him to belittle her. He already hates her, she can tell, just from the look in his eyes (seriously, Kris knows that Silver likes Lyra, but really, do give a person a chance before judging her, huh) that he isn't trusting towards her.

"Because I am rolling down a hill."

His answer astounds her, although she covers it up with a pretentious smirk, and she panics inside, because she was not expecting him to reply with an affirmative to her proposal to date.

He further surprises her with one last question, as he makes to walk away.

"Well then, 'Rolling Girl', are you tired of this all?"

_And she lies; words that are as true as her promise of tranquility in her life; lies that only she believes is true._

"Yes."

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><p>AN

I'm sorry. I'm changing the title. /shot don't kill me.

And Kris's character is kind of based of "Rolling Girl", but not that much; it's kind of more a twisted incorporation of "Rolling Girl" than anything else, so it won't be mentioned that much...well...kind of...but it won't be like the song in any way at all. Trust me.


	3. madness is its army

**iii. madness is its army**

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><p>"Did you hear? Silver's going out with that girl! Why would he betray us like that!?" Lyra slammed the table in front of Ethan, making him jolt.<p>

From all the way across the room, piercing glares were directed at Lyra, who was complaining rather loudly. Ethan felt himself burn up with embarrassment before staring desperately at his book, trying to avoid the attention that Lyra's loud voice had garnered. Trying to ignore the girl next to him (or maybe just pretend that he doesn't know her, because Arceus, she was just being really embarrassing right now), he stuck out a tongue in mock concentration and almost glares at the book in front of him to be more interesting when he hears Lyra let out a muffled cry.

Ethan pauses for a moment, before looking at Lyra, who was complaining to him about how Silver was a traitor. Rolling his eyes good-naturedly, he goes back to reading his book. Their location being the library, Ethan tells Lyra to shut up and stop complaining, before the librarian kicks them both out. If there was one place where Ethan doesn't want to be kicked out of, it would be this place. Lyra puffs out her cheeks and huffs, mentioning something about how unfair Silver was being.

He sighs and tries to listen to Lyra, but honestly, even though Lyra is his best friend and he would beat up any bastard who dares go against her, Silver dating Kris doesn't actually affect Ethan that much.

He pauses again; well, that was somewhat of a lie.

It worried him.

He wasn't worried about Silver, per se, but he was actually worried about Kris.

See, he knew first hand how much of a jackass his friend could be; the fact that his friend had just calmly accepted the girl's confession leaves Ethan wondering what Silver is planning exactly. After all, his friend was definitely devoted to Lyra; extremely devoted, and Ethan feels a migraine coming on when he remembers what a jealous Silver looked like. Silver would never go out with someone other than Lyra unless he had a motive. Ethan worries for Kris, because underneath it all, he knows that she isn't nearly as bad as she seems. Seeing Lyra stare at him strangely because he had been staring at her for at least a few minutes now without noticing, Ethan stiffens and desperately tries to go back to reading, not wishing Lyra to question his behaviors. He had a feeling Lyra already knew that he didn't hate the girl like she did.

You see, Ethan had a crush on Kris.

Now, Lyra was painfully unaware of this fact (he could tell due to the amount of times she had complained to him about Kris), but every time the blue-haired girl had mocked him and Lyra, he feels himself clam up and he isn't able to utter a word due to his shyness. He's afraid of Kris mocking him further, because he is already on her bad side because of his relationship with Lyra, and he really does not wish to be thought of any worse. Kris has given many of the people she doesn't like nicknames, and she purposely makes them sound childish and not creative to tell everyone that she doesn't care about those people enough to spend time on their nicknames. He twitches a little bit when he remembers that Kris just calls him "the silent moron", due to the fact that he has actually never spoken to her, but unknown to Lyra and Silver, he sees Kris almost every day.

Emphasis on the "he sees Kris" part.

-It isn't exactly the same vice versa.

Ethan is not a stalker. He just isn't, and he could give you many explanations why he wasn't one yet could still see the girl, and you would have no choice but to accept it, but it was true; without the girl seeing him, Ethan had seen her every day. For the past two years, in fact.

-Wait; scratch that. There was one time she saw him.

* * *

><p><em>"Are you not tired of this now?"<em>

_And the girl shakes her head no, and he lets out a sigh before watching her fall again._

Now, the campus was closed off. With metal gates and Joltik patrolling the premises, anyone who was caught loitering after hours was immediately punished with paralyzing shocks that were bright enough to wake any Snorlax up from its sleep; there, the student would fall to the ground and wait for a professor or hall monitor to show up, and the hall monitor could give detention or bathroom duty or anything.

On one night, on monitor duty, he notices a shadow.

It's a figure ready to bolt any time. He watches as the person's silhouette creeps back and forth, as if they are pacing, and he notices that the person suddenly jumps and tries to go over the gate. The person's feet make a rather loud thud, and he can see the spikes on the gate have pierced through that person's skin. The walls were effective in trying to keep people from coming in and going out. The loud noise attracts attention, and immediately, he sees small sparks of electricity in the vicinity, and he knows that the Joltik has spotted the person. The person then stands still, as if unsure what to do, and then reaches towards one Joltik. The Joltik screeches, and immediately lets out a spider web that is electrically charged, and Ethan makes his way out to punish the offender, when he sees that the offender is reaching towards another one. It's a girl. And a horribly familiar one.

_What is she doing!?_

He pushes towards her, knocking the Joltik off, and the Joltik are now seething electricity, ready to shock him as well, when the girl suddenly sends out a Pokeball. Ethan gawks. Pokeballs weren't allowed on campus.

From the Pokeball pops out a shield-like Pokemon, one that Ethan has not seen before, and he recalls that Kris is not located in any of the main wings; she wasn't from the Johto, Kanto, Sinnoh, or Hoenn wings. He then realizes that most likely, this Pokemon was from either Kalos or Unova. Either way, he still has to punish her for having Pokemon on campus.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

Ethan is surprised at the words which comes out of the girl's mouth, and he realizes that she probably doesn't recognize him because even with the Joltik, it's as dark as a nightmare outside, and he then has to refrain from yelling back at her that she shouldn't be the one talking. Honestly; she's the one trying to touch the fricking Joltik, and she's yelling at him?

Ethan can tell Kris rolls her eyes, because she quickly grabs onto him and pulls out a bunch of grass. She throws the grass shards onto him, and he wants to yell at her for what she's doing, but when the Joltik round up on him, he finds out with a shock that the grass has absorbed most of the attack. Pretending to be immobilized, Ethan lies there as Kris quickly stands still, not moving because Joltik sense vibrations with their feet, and when the Joltik have scattered away, Kris walks over to Ethan and slaps him.

Ethan's first reaction? The normal one.

"What the hell was that!? Why the hell did you slap me!?"

Again, another roll of the eyes that he can't see.

"You stopped me."

"You're not supposed to get out!"

This time, he hears a sigh, and he wonders why Kris was trying to get out and possibly why she was so adamant about it when he sees the bruises on her face. He's kind of glad that he received ridiculous goggles that made his eyes look buggish now, ones that the professors gave him, because they allowed for vision in the night. He is also kind of glad that Kris doesn't recognize him, because god, that would make things awkward. He walks over to her and gently touches her bruises, and she winces.

He hears a soft version of the taunting voice that he normally receives, one that is tired, and he wonders just how a girl can sound so young yet so tired.

"...Leave me alone."

Then he is pushed away from her, as she slowly stands up and gazes at the metal walls again, and his eyes widen because, really, she's trying to do it again?

Ethan can't stand this. For some reason that he doesn't know, Kris is willing to be hurt; maybe it's not her main motive, but she's clearly trying to hurt herself so he tries to stop her. He tries to prevent her from leaving.

"What is your name? I have to report you."

He can feel the girl tense up before briskly walking away, and he is left with a sentence that sticks on his mind for Arceus knows how long. Just as she is about to make it over, she stops on the edge of the wall, and she looks down at his general area, probably still unsure who he was. He wonders briefly how she got up there. She stays there for about a minute, peering at his general area, even though he knows she can't see him. The sun is about to rise, and Kris turns her back so that she can't see who has saved her from the Joltik. He can tell she doesn't mean to harm anyone else. Everything she does is truly for her own sake. So he vows that if he sees her again, he won't stop her. It was what she truly wanted, right?

"...Just call me 'Rolling Girl'."

_And she kept on rolling over and over again, through fields of electric weapons that hurt her, but she just couldn't find where she went wrong, so she rolled again._

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><p>Ethan knows something is wrong when Silver, who claims he hates the girl just because Lyra does, calls her 'Rolling Girl'. Lyra calls her 'Rolling Girl' because she always looks like "she just came back from crawling from the dead", and Ethan just wants to tell Lyra to shut up because that's not what Kris does-<p>

-_And Silver adopted that habit as well. 'Rolling Girl' is a cruel nickname that they call her. It's not what she thinks it is._

He immediately knows that Silver is planning something, and he feels useless because he can't interrupt whatever Silver is doing, because it was all going the way Kris wanted it to go-

-_Right?_

But every night, on monitor duty, he watches Kris escape the campus yet again, bruises still present, and he knows that she probably thinks he is watching her, but he knows that she doesn't really care. It's more of a mutual thing. He doesn't say a word, and she doesn't report him for not doing his job. He likes to think he has formed a bond with her over the past two years, because occasionally, she will leave a gift behind for him and vice versa, so he is genuinely worried about her regardless of whether or not she was his crush.

This night, she appears once again. She falters for just a moment, appearing to look at where he was hidden (he always watches her when she leaves, to make sure she wasn't hurt, although the Joltik have by now recognized her and have allowed her to leave without a shock), and he notices something different. She puts on roller skates (just where she got them, he doesn't know) and then raises her arm in a salute meant for him before gathering up speed with her skates and jumping over the gate with them.

_Heh. Rolling Girl._

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><p>AN

I'm not so sure how to write love squares. Honestly, I've never once wrote a happy romantic story (because even though I'm in high school, I have never been close to a romantic relationship whatsoever) and don't have any experience. So, here is a (probably crappily written) chapter! (I'm sorry, don't ask why the school is so strict on leaving the campus. Just imagine it to be filled with top-trainers from all around the world, so security is tight. XD)

By the way, I want to know what ages people who write fanfiction normally are. I don't need the exact age, of course, but if you could state whether or not you're older or younger than me would be great. ^^ You don't have to comply with this if you don't want to. I'm fourteen.

Um, about the explanation for "Rolling Girl". (I'm sorry, this is so long)

The song never actually stated it was about bullying. There are many different interpretations, of course, but do note that the song never actually states that the girl is being bullied. Most famous PVs seen are probably fanmade ones, if they suggest bullying, because the actual video with the song is actually one single unmoving picture that has crescent moons on it. That's it. The song never actually suggests bullying in its lyrics. The most famous PV is drawn by Akiakane, who also sung a cover of it, but that's not official. The PV shows Miku being comforted by a boy in the end, but that's also not official. It shows Miku being all by herself, but do note that there was no sign of bullying in the PV either; it was her being alone, of course, but there's a difference. It could be she herself who caused this loneliness, or it could be others, but either way, she isn't being bullied. I have not seen any PVs which suggest that. Of course, this whole song is open to interpretation, but I prefer to take things the way they are presented. I base my own interpretations on the lyrics given in order to keep a plausible explanation. Obviously, I'm not one to believe that Miku had an evil twin which pushed her down hills until a boy saved her and killed her evil twin, but I'm open to new ideas, and I believe that everyone has the right to their own interpretation.

However, it is clear that the girl has tried hard to make herself accepted. It was mainly her own feeling of self-deprecation that spurred her to do this, and she tries to improve herself by "rolling", which could be literal, as in trying hard to do something others can already do, or which could be metaphorical, as in trying blindly to "roll" her way through life. Either way, the only thing that the song actually suggests is that in the end, she gives up on all this. She gives up on trying to improve herself.


	4. gates guard over harrowing sheen

**iv. gates guard over harrowing sheen**

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><p>Lyra was a simple girl. Growing up sheltered, she was put first priority in her family because she was the best; no false words here. She was the best at battling; her defeat over the Champion was inevitable, even as the whole region gaped at how a ten year old could do something as accomplished as that. She had smiled cutely to the camera, and all over, the people of Johto fell in love with her as she was crowned their precious jewel. She was a wonderful athlete, and her Pokemon were as well; they won each and every Pokeathlon as if it were nothing more than just lifting a finger. And many times, what she had got was simply fulfilled by lifting a finger. Her artistic values and studious ways made her the perfect example for each and every student; her bright and sunny personality vied for, and she was asked many times for her hand in marriage (although she was much too young). And this was all accompanied by the fact that she was kind and caring.<p>

But it all didn't matter.

Lyra liked to think of her life as a simple chart; predictable, stable, and organized. She always believed that she would grow up and marry her childhood friend, Ethan, and that they would have three kids to balance out the average childbirth in their town. Yes, she had grown up with all of her expectations laid out in front of her. Yes, she had a perfect plot; a extremely stable line-graph, taking into account teenage hormones and the like. It was safe to say that she was prepared for the perfect life.

So when she met Silver, it was safe to say that she was stressed. He invoked emotions that she had never planned for; anger, fury, and a desire to just change him. She hadn't planned on finding such a rude rival, one which (quite obviously) had a crush on her, and suddenly she found scatted dots all over her plot chart.

_This will not do!_

So she was determined to set her life straight again, and she decided that in order to make her life stable, she must change her predictions. Smiling to herself, she cheered inwardly yet appeared collected on the outside when she had finally found a way to keep the boy in her life- albeit not one as a lover. After all; she had her childhood love, Ethan, to consider. She would make him her second best friend; that way, she could keep this odd one in her life while not necessarily loving him.

But recently, the dots were showing up again. Lyra was outraged at the random specks of kindness Ethan was showing here and there to that girl Kris; the very same dots on her chart that were out of order. And again and again, Lyra was trying to erase those dots, and when that didn't work, to tear those dots right off. Yet, Lyra could not. And more and more dots were appearing by the moment, because Lyra had not planned on that stupid girl asking Silver out, did not plan on Ethan liking that girl, and she did not plan this jealousy that was overcoming her every moment!

So she tore it all apart, her life that was already planned out for her, by her, and **_was_ _her,_**because she could not have these little specks on her chart!

These dots were all created by one person; one person only!

_Who was it?_

**Rolling girl. The one rolling and making a mess all over her life.**

So Lyra stops. She stops planning, and looks around her. This is her life; is it not? Shouldn't she have the chance to change all the data!?

So Lyra stops her anger for a moment, and looks around her because she realizes that even this, the _chance of_ _**failure,**_was not planned for. So what will she do? The one with the chalk and the chart in her hand? What will she do?

_The girl with the chart stands over its torn shreds._

Well then; even if she tried to save her chart, it wouldn't matter anymore; not at all.

_So what will the girl with the chart do?_

It was simple enough.

_It was simple enough; **if the girl who rolls wished to roll, then she would be the one pushing her down the hill.**_

* * *

><p>Recently, Kris had been wondering about Ethan. The boy was nice, really; all those times he could have reported her for leaving the campus and still didn't do so were proof of that.<p>

Honestly, he was a little simple-minded. Well...naive would be the better term. Because honestly, Kris wasn't blind. She wasn't sure why he had asked her her name when they first met, but she was sure it was in some weird vain attempt to try and persuade her into thinking they were strangers. Or maybe he was trying to make her feel safe. But either way, she felt like she had made a friend. Stupid, the friend maybe; but not exactly as displeasing as she would normally think.

Now, honestly, she hated him. Make that clear. Ethan was a jackass in her mind. But she had supposed that he automatically was one because of his friends. Silver was a complete asshole, and Lyra was a complete female Lillipup, but Ethan always stood out because he did not talk much even if he was surrounded by the king of arrogance and the queen of perfection. She had always wondered how Ethan knew Lyra. He seemed nice; then again, she was Johto's princess. They were childhood friends, that much she was sure of. She wasn't sure about how Silver and him were friends...but she assumed that they probably were just sarcastic around each other. She had gotten a feeling that Ethan was probably an extremely sarcastic person, based on the night encounters.

But today, she felt like getting to know him better. After all, she had only learnt his name that night when he saved her from the Joltik (although she had her pride to preserve; she was definitely not in danger. Nope. And he hadn't come just at the right time. Nope. She could've stopped it all by herself. Yep.), even though she had taunted him many times. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was interested in him as a person (he was really nice and stuff, and she would be taken to the Distortion World if she denied that she disliked attention such as his, when he was so nice); nope. Stopping suddenly, with Ethan in sight, she slammed her head into the wall realizing how stupid that sounded. Well, Ethan was Silver's friend; a considerably nicer person than her now boyfriend really was, so she weighed the possibilities and decided that getting to know him would not be detrimental to anything she had planned. While she was thinking, she had tried to put on a calm and solemn posture. However, students were nervously veering far around her, whimpering whenever she looked at them. Well then. She could be a murderer. Nice going, Kris.

_Never quit my night job to become an actress like Rosa._

Now, walking over to Ethan, she realized that she had actually never talked to him outside of Hall Monitor duties.

So guess how she started off. How was one supposed to talk to someone who has never spoken to her except for the situation where it was believed that they couldn't recognize each other? Here's how. Kris decided that she could write a whole how-to book on greetings. In fact, her greeting would be the best. It was totally polite and kind. In fact, one could even say that she was definitely an educated and well-mannered lady, born with a high filigree-

"Hey, silent moron, where the hell is your asshole of a friend?"

_Wonderful start._

Rolling his eyes, Ethan gestured lazily to his right, where said asshole was.

"Right there. Aren't you supposed to be smitten with said asshole? Unless you like holes in the posterior, I highly doubt you would want to date a hole which most possibly would not smell particularly fragrant."

"Key word: supposed to. And you can't know until you try."

_Wonderful, Kris. Just wonderful._

They fell into an awkward silence, before Kris started laughing loudly, falling to her knees, at what she had just said. The atmosphere was extremely tense, but it was just so awkward that it was funny, and soon enough, Ethan fell to the ground laughing, clutching his stomach, and soon enough, they started up another conversation. The tension dissipated as they brought up things they had in common (e.g. thinking Silver was a bastard, Lyra talked too much sometimes, how Professor Sycamore had the weirdest hairstyle ever) and Kris had forgotten about the asshole she was supposed to be searching for.

But still, the awkwardness of the first conversation was still stuck in her mind.

_And that was our first conversation as Kris and Ethan. Lovely._

Little did she know how accurate her joking would be later on. But for now, a boy standing nearby was frowning. His best friend just had to steal everyone away, didn't he? The redhead scowled before walking over to his now girlfriend and his male best friend. That was the reason why he had agreed to this all. Ethan would soon taste his own medicine; would he not? Silver smirked.

* * *

><p>AN

I'M SORRY FOR THIS PIECE OF CRAP /SHOT

I have no idea how I was supposed to continue this and stuff because I just wing everything so I will definitely need to rewrite this chapter later ;_; *crais* And this is all too rushed and stuff and I have no idea how to make it un-rushed and I'm just like dead right now /shot

Also, Kris has a job :D What is it?

(she could totally do a great job of being an actor by the way)


	5. carmine drippings steal the night

**v. carmine drippings steal the night**

* * *

><p><em>Isn't it funny how unexpected things can happen?<em>

* * *

><p>It wasn't often that a new student came to the school. Oftentimes, the new student would be renowned for some weird ability of theirs; Rosa and Nate got in with their acting skills, Serena and Calem got in because of their popularity in the region they came from, and then there were...the others, who had mainly got in because of some record they had achieved.<p>

Some were obvious, like most of the Kanto Dex Holders, in which the only exception was a girl who was out traveling the world named Yellow, who only the Kanto Dex Holders remembered. Others weren't as obvious, like how Silver was the first person to steal a Pokemon from a professor. Later on, he was praised for his cleverness, all hatred forgotten and he was accepted, although he was still wary.

It was strange, though. The videotape showing the theft clearly showed Silver with extremely long hair that was also a bit flat and smooth at the edges, but Silver always claimed that never once did he leave his hair long and he always kept his hairstyle. They had just laughed it off, saying that of course Silver wouldn't want to admit to the theft, although Silver had seemed confused about it all. He always claimed that yes, he had stolen a Pokemon, but he did not have the hair that was always mentioned.

So when a new kid arrived at school, everyone was excited. The school had arranged an assembly for the new student, because of the rare event. New students were always exciting, and there was always the question of which clique they would join.

The Kanto holders were looking around curiously, wondering who this new student was; was he or she a Dex Holder? If so, which dex? Which region? What was their special skill or accomplishment?

The Johto holders were playing cards in the auditorium where the assembly was held, all three not really interested, because none of them weren't really into things like these. Maintaining current friendships was more than enough for them, especially with the drama between the three. Silver was avoiding Lyra's eyes, Ethan was scrutinizing Silver, and Lyra was just pouting at both of the boys. Truth be told, it was like something had happened between them that was unspoken. Kris wondered just what exactly had happened between Ethan and Silver; it seemed as if those two were purposely trying to anger the other, although whether or not that was their normal interaction, she wasn't sure.

Far away from them, Kris sat high up in the rafters, legs swinging in boredom as she peered down at the scene below her. She wasn't a Johto dex. Sure, there might have been a time that she had gotten one, but that one had had its data erased, and she wasn't officially a Johto Dex Holder now. So why bother with people? Sighing in boredom, she turned her attention to Silver, whom she had never thought would agree to be her boyfriend.

It wasn't like he was actually being nice to her. It was more of standing around her when the time called for it, and nodding to questions that others had asked them. Then again, it wasn't as if Kris actually expected him to do anything else. She always knew Silver liked Lyra; that was plain as day to anyone who ever saw the two of them together, so it wasn't much of a disappointment that they weren't an actual couple.

_How dreadful this ordeal is. Maybe I should break up with him soon? Ah, but he was actually the first person I've ever liked...I mean, I have met him before, when we were little. His hair was longer though, and his eyes were different...but it was him. Er...yeah. It was him._

The Sinnoh holders were designing new props for their contests, the Unova holders were thinking of new musical and movie ideas, as well as planning for various trips around the Unova region, and the Kalos holders were listing ideas for advertisements and trainer videos. In fact, Kris realized, the holders from those regions were exceptionally talented, with each defeating the Champion at least once and being a major presence or star in their region. She had no disagreeable opinion of them; they were too loosely connected to have any opinions of each other.

_Well, now evaluations of people I know are done. It wasn't like they were detailed, anyway. I really don't know anyone, nor care to know anyone. Now what? Shall I count the number of Mareep entries in all the collective Pokedexes? What am I supposed to do, plot everyone's death or something-_

**_Screech-_**

Everyone in the room cringed from the loud noise created by Professor Oak's tapping of the microphone, only to cringe again when he accidentally knocked it over when he took a step, creating more noise.

_Ah. Is it going to start?_

Professor Oak straightened the microphone on its stand again, and fixed his hair that was messed up from the crash, before smiling brightly at all the students there.

_Is this really a happy occasion?_

"Hello, students. Today, we shall be welcoming a new student to our school! I personally have not met him, but I have heard of his abilities from all around, speaking of his talents. Today's introduction shall be a bit different! This student has an unique ability; now, now, those from Unova had better not complain about this, but his talents are disguising himself and making his own presence unknown! Now, I know that those from Unova also have done a great job with that, but this boy has managed to stay alive only because of this. Think of it as his reason for being in this school. Now I admit, the way the boy wished to be introduced is a strange one; in fact, he didn't wish to be introduced at all! So please welcome your new classmate to our school if you see him- if you even see him at all! The boy has a strange taste, but it sure leaves a mysterious air about it, doesn't it?"

Kris rolled her eyes. Really, the professor got excited over extremely silly little things, didn't he?

_Must be some arrogant idiot who wishes to show off his only redeeming features. I don't need to waste my time on him._

She tuned out during the rest of the assembly, thinking about Silver and Lyra and Ethan, although something just didn't settle right in her.

There was something about Silver's eyes that didn't seem right though. Those eyes, when she had first saw them, were the shade of ebony.

When the assembly ended, Kris stayed up in the rafters, where no one saw her. She stayed behind, wondering whether or not it was just her memory that was faulty. Then again, her life before losing the Pokedex had always been a blur to her. She remembered fights, and danger, but her memories were mainly blurred. Professor Oak had told her truthfully that her memories were bound to be a little blurry, because the Pokedex was the keeper of memories for all people registered, and when hers had been broken and smashed, her memories were bound to be destroyed as well.

But yet again...ebony eyes with a sullen scowl was what she remembered. Not this...sulky, almost prissy boy, that was in love with the definition of pretty girl. Honestly, it was like as if she had fallen in love with a completely different person.

Sighing, and jumping down from the rafters (with the help of her Pokemon of course; she was allowed to have Pokemon in the school because of her...special case...) she dusted off the debris that had gathered on her shoulder, and headed towards the door.

Bumping into something as soon as she left the door, she realized that it was past curfew and that she had to get to her room for inspections. With a grunt, she quickly turned to look at the person, only catching a momentary glimpse of hair and a scowl, and quickly uttered an apology before running off. There was something that nagged at her about this person though.

"Sorry, but I have to go now!"

_Those eyes weren't red._

She suddenly realized this with a jolt, but when she turned around, the door had shut and she was left standing alone in a dark hallway.

* * *

><p>AN

AHAHAHA I'M GOING AWAY FROM MY INTENDED PLOT AGAIN PLEASE HELP ME

So...I'm just going to apologize for the inactivity again, and...yeah.

I'm sorry, but I am generally sucky at sticking to the intended plot. So...I should probably change the summary of the first chapter as well...

So, now this story is going to be extremely complicated with this person added. I'm not sure most of you accept him as a character by himself, but he shows character differences, so I'm going to make him an entirely different character by himself.

So, with all that was just revealed in my summary, you guys should probably know who the new student is now...

Also, I had no reason as to why Kris would be in this school while she isn't currently a Pokedex Holder, so this is my only reason why...that the Pokedex marks your life and stores your memories, and when it's destroyed, it's as if a part of you is destroyed.


	6. dreamed words speak of woe

**vi. dreamed words speak of woe**

* * *

><p>When she turned back, she saw nothing of the person who had just passed by. She was running down the hallways, trying to get to her dorm, but she just couldn't get those eyes out of her mind. They were familiar.<p>

Disappointment, as well as a burning curiosity, overwhelmed her, and she desperately wished to go back, but it was already late and she couldn't be tardy any longer. She still had to be in her dorm before the curfew, and she still had to go to her job. Running back, she could hear the sound of a door slamming and could barely keep herself from berating herself, saying that if she had waited just another moment she could see who the person who passed her was, but she ignored it all and pushed it to the back of her mind.

Running into her dorm, where surprisingly she was the only inhabitant, she quickly put on her work uniform (a special suit made with some material she didn't bother learning the name of, some silver/white gloves, and an extremely plain but unique mask which hid everything except for her eyes) and shut off the light. An electronic device resembling a watch ticked quickly on her wrist. Muttering, because she needed to get to her destination quickly, she waited for the customary tap on the door to sound; as soon as that sounded, she sprang up, grabbed her pack and opened the window silently, closing it as she slid outside.

Jumping out, she whipped out her roller blades, which were a strange silver and blue color, metallic in the moonlight, and sped past most of the campus, leaving a customary wave to Ethan (who still either didn't realize who Kris was or didn't realize that Kris knew) before gaining speed and jumping over the security wall. There was a secret propulsion agent in her roller skates, and something in her suit that made her able to transcend barriers, because no regular person could leave the school ever. They would be stuck there forever. And Kris wondered why that made her so sad.

The hair blew her hair back, and her eyes closed, basked in the bliss of the moonlight hitting her face, and she began to sing softly. Behind her, soft rustling came from the shuffle of clothes. Letting a gentle grin grace her face, she finished singing her song, a lullaby about how sweet times would come. There was an occasional shuffle behind her, due to restlessness; she paid it no mind though, and turning her head back when she was done (but not opening her eyes) she calmly said, still half singing:

"Hello again, Kamon."

A moment of silence.

"...You again."

She smiled, his gentle voice calming her nerves, before she cracked a eye open to peer at the boy who had greeted her back. She didn't know much about him, at all; she wasn't even sure if Kamon was his real name, because the organization had required everyone to keep their real names a secret, but they both were smart enough to realize that if they used their real names, everyone else would think that their real names weren't their actual name, and their real name would be that much more hidden, but they were still wary around each other. That's why she had told Kamon her name was "Crystal", to be so close to her real name that people wouldn't think they were stupid enough to let that big of a hint, and not close enough that people would directly guess her real name.

They were partners. They were allies. And she supposed that they were probably friends; she wasn't sure, really. They never really knew what the other looked like; their suits covered everything but their hair, but in their cases the agency had said that their hair was much too noticeable by the enemy, so they agreed to hide their whole body.

The agency...was one fighting the war. Depression, insanity, and heart-numbing emotions had overridden the world after a certain event called the "Escalation" took place. They had fought to save everyone, but only a select few were spared. The others were left trapped in a desolate, barren world where there was barely enough to eat. There was only one main "city", where all the resources and technology was kept, and only the agency was allowed to use those resources.

Recently, the work had gotten harder.

People all around were dying, screaming because they were all sick and depressed and nothing they could do was going to help so they had gotten used to it, but it was still a gruesome sight nonetheless. Children being massacred, husbands and wives being torn apart and ripped apart, and the overall hope from humanity had been almost lost. They trapped the last pieces of hope for the human race in a special area.

The most intelligent and advanced humans were placed into the only existing school left. The rest had been taken away by an organization which had prided itself on causing despair in everyone; the agency and the evil organization were constantly fighting to keep the humans on their side. The humans trapped inside the school were the only ones able to be happy; happiness and hope was a strength. That's why Kris was a student, and wasn't, at the same time.

"...Thinking using your nonexistent brain again?"

Snapping back to the real world, where she and Kamon were currently monitoring the barren landscape for any survivors of the Escalation, Kris suddenly punched Kamon in the arm, angry. Kamon always did that; she was actually grateful for the interruption in her thoughts. The reason why the agency had issued partners was so that no one could fall prey to the despair and sadness while by themselves; with each lost member, the war was becoming harder to win. Each person in the agency or in the school had had their past and memories erased, so no one could remember anything about themselves.

They were often given false memories, oftentimes ones including other students, so that their lives remained "normal".

They hadn't given Kris one.

Kris remembered that once, she had met a red-haired boy, before the Escalation. But that was about it for her memories.

Her watch started beeping.

Scowling at Kamon, she noticed the time: 3:00.

It was time to get off work and to go sleep; it would be too noticeable if she walked in half asleep all the time, so they had issued work hours.

So they made their way out of the barren landscapes, roller skates hitting the ground with loud thuds and small jumps as they whizzed by the dead trees and dry rivers, silence ringing in their ears. She dryly commented that the silence was killing her; she could see Kamon next to her dryly chuckle as well. (But they all knew it was because all the plants had died, so oxygen levels were scarce; but no animals were even around anymore, so it was enough for a couple of people.)

Kamon and Kris caught eyes and held them for a few moments. There was something in his eyes that Kris had never seen before. She had seen sadness, in refugees, and happiness, at the school, but his eyes held _emptiness_. And she thought it was beautiful, in a way. His eyes were as dark as the night sky, something she had always appreciated. Familiar, warm yet cold, and she felt as if she could stare into his eyes forever. Not like they were drowning her; no, it was because they were the only ones that couldn't drown her, that she liked them. _Happiness and sorrow drown humans forever_. _Emptiness doesn't define a human._

They both hated everyone and how weak they were. Kamon was constantly muttering how weak he was, and how he would change himself, and Kris would always just punch him in the face and tell him that he wasn't weak, and that _weren't the two of them in the end trying to save everyone?_

(But then she had questioned herself as well, and they both knew that. After all, there was a difference between being strong and being a hero. And truthfully, both could care less about how humans ended up; the only reason why they didn't quit their jobs was because they would be separated and their memories erased.)

When she would give up on chasing life, he would drag her towards it.

(If humans couldn't have emotions then the opponent couldn't even win. Why were humans so useless? Why were _they_ so useless?)

Kamon had never told her about him, and she never told him about her as well, but there was something in both of their eyes that seemed like they were against the world. They were just two kids on roller skates, who hated everything. But that was all to it, wasn't it? Two kids, who knew loneliness to the ends of the earth, to the ends of the barren wasteland that they explored every single day, and whom everyone else underestimated. Two kids who knew that except for them, ethics was overestimated.

(Kris wondered why they were even trying. Wasn't it all useless? It was, wasn't it? No one could be saved; the agency still hadn't won, and the opponent was still gaining the advantage day after day.)

_A rolling boy and a rolling girl, both with empty eyes._

Trying to distract herself from her thoughts, today, she noticed that Kamon went a different direction than usual; normally they split when they were at the edge of the city, but today, it was in the backstreets and alleys that they parted. Neither really wanted to part. They only felt calm when they were around each other; there was once, before Kris was assigned to the school, where they had went on a mission together and had both confided in the other their thoughts, that they had sad this to each other.

She asked why he was going someplace different today.

"...Ah, I got moved to a different place in the daytime. I'm supposed to be there for the duration of the year."

Nodding her head in understanding (they were always moved to the place where there was an imminent threat), she left Kamon first, always extremely tired.

_Physically, mentally, and emotionally._

She plopped down on her bed and tried to sleep, the watch on her hand ticking furiously. A calendar above her bed showed that the next day was Silver's birthday. December 24th. Staring furiously at the calendar, she gave up on sleeping, like she had ever since she had accepted her fate, and wondered why Silver actually accepted her. Trying to stop thinking about things like that, she ended up thinking about Kamon instead, and how he told her that his birthday was on the 24th as well, although she didn't think about why he would share information like that with her, when information was forbidden to be given out.

* * *

><p>AN

Waugh. This has turned into a dystopia fic. ;_; Alright then, just ignore this crappy piece of writing. XD

Oh, and I'm going to see a therapist tomorrow! :D Because I've been feeling empty (not quite sad though) recently, and I just can't take it anymore. XD Ah but I'll try to update by next week though for this story.

/it makes sense though why they can't get out of the school

/it also makes everyone else's back story explainable as well


	7. a story of lies is weaved

**vii. a story of lies is weaved**

* * *

><p><em>You know, sometimes Kris wondered if they were all just lying to them. If there really was that much destruction and havoc in the world, why send groups of two kids to try and fix it?<em>

* * *

><p>"What, you didn't get me a present?" Silver smirked at Kris, who was putting things in her locker. It was weird; Kris seemed overly tired, as she kept on rubbing at her eyes, and Silver felt strangely tired as well. He didn't have any reason to be; after the curfew he was in his room and sleeping. What was she doing? Silver rolled his eyes, hand reaching up as he tried to stifle his yawn. It partially worked. Kris looked at him strangely, as if he was an alien or something, and he raised his eyebrows, curious at Kris's behavior. She shook her head, and turned away.<p>

"I'm afraid not, Silver."

He frowned. What kind of girlfriend was she? Never mind that thought, he grimaced. He rolled his eyes again. Impatient, he then grabbed Kris's books, which she had had some difficulty carrying, and then started to walk towards their next class, which was, coincidentally, shared. She hurried behind him, glaring at him, as she took some of the books in that pile.

Peering down at the stack of things he had taken from Kris, he noticed that Kris had mainly history books in that pile. Strange. Kris didn't seem like the kind of person to be interested in history. Silver figured that if he was going to be her boyfriend, he should at least try a tiny bit. That way, he could hurt Ethan the most. If he could bring Kris happiness when Ethan couldn't, he decided, then Ethan would be hurt the most.

That was to be his revenge.

(But really, he looked at Kris and thought that maybe she really wasn't the girl she appeared to be. After all, she had asked him out, but didn't even regard him as being her boyfriend, apparently. It was going to be hard. Really hard.)

There was something in Kris's hands though, that caught his eye.

"Hey, Kris. What's that?"

She looked down, where Silver was indicating, and then her eyes widened. He watched curiously as she quickly fumbled to hide the thing, but then he held out his hand. She looked at his hand, not knowing what he was doing. A blue ribbon dangled from her wrist, which he also noticed, but said nothing about. Instead, he was adamant to look at the thing she was hiding.

"Give me it."

She frowned, and then nervously handed the object over to Silver.

"Here."

He gently turned the thing over. He didn't know what it was. It appeared to be some watch of some sort. It had a strange appearance though. Peering at the watch, he realized that the watch was almost completely clear, except for one part, that was a digital blue. It appeared to be modern technology; that was rare in this school, because no one ever got to go out. Only old technology remained in the school.

_So then how could she have it, then...?_

He probably let out a look of suspicion or something, for Kris quickly took the watch back, fastened it on her wrist and covered it with her jacket sleeve.

"It's nothing. Here, I can carry my books by myself."

Kris almost tore the books out of Silver's arms before walking speedily down the hallway, pace frantic as she gripped her books tightly.

* * *

><p>It was night, and Kris ran to her room again. She looked around for a sign of the boy from last night, who had those eyes that she knew from somewhere, but she didn't catch sight of him. Feeling slightly disappointed, she ran back to her room, where she waited for the customary knock on her door. She quickly dressed and went to bed, carrying the watch with her. She sighed in relief, thinking back to what had happened.<p>

_Silver almost found the watch._

What exactly was the watch? Kris held it up above her, peering at it through the moonlight. It shone a metallic blue in the light. The watch was a recording. It was a documentation of _something_.

Only members of the agency had these in their original form. The people trapped in the school had "Pokedexes", which were a simplified version of these watches. They kept track on everyone's emotional stability and other aspects, and was extremely useful in trying to determine whether or not there was a spy. Spies were dangerous. Especially if they were from the evil organization.

None of the spies retained their memories from the evil organization. After close investigation, oftentimes the spy wasn't even aware of their status, as they were unknowingly infected with the weapon that the evil organization used. The agency wasn't sure how the organization spread hysteria and sadness. The Escalation was a test to see how effective their weapon was. It was just a test.

The spies were just plain humans, taken as test subjects.

They weren't evil. They were just used.

They oftentimes would have contradicting memories, and would have times of mental instability due to the conflicting thoughts in their minds. Many times, they appeared to have DID or some disorder related to that.

The Escalation was horrible.

Kris and "Kamon" both weren't told what the Escalation was. It appeared that normal members of the agency weren't allowed to know what had happened so many years ago. All memories were erased.

With a start, Kris realized that with this train of thought, she was now late. The knock on the door had been heard many minutes ago, but she had been busy with her thoughts, and she now had to hurry to get to Kamon before it was possible he could be hurt. She quickly grabbed everything, took along the ribbon, and dashed out of her room.

* * *

><p>She was terribly late, and she hurriedly sped across the campus with her roller skates and was just about to jump over the wall when a voice stopped her. It wasn't loud or anything, but it still startled her, because they hadn't talked at all since that first day.<p>

"Wait."

Turning around, she saw Ethan. Her eyes narrowed as she watched him walk up to her, and her eyes roamed over him, trying to figure out why he had stopped her. His body was stiff and rigid. He was walking towards her frantically, as if worried for her or something. Looking around for any presence of another person, he then quickly started speaking.

"Don't go out there."

She was surprised.

"Why?"

"Just- just don't go out there."

She looked at the moon above her, and frowned. She was now more late than ever, and Kamon could be ambushed or something while she wasn't there. She needed to leave now. She made a motion to go, ignoring Ethan's warning, when Ethan suddenly grabbed her hand. She looked at him, startled. While she was shocked, Ethan quickly explained futher.

"Look, I know that I can't stop you or anything, but there's something not right out there. Don't go out there."

Kris looked at him warily, and took her hand back. She took a step back, questioning him. However, she made an effort to try and reassure him while she resumed skating.

"I'll be fine."

And she jumped over the wall. She could hear Ethan shout out again, but he only shouted once, and she knew that he realized that he really had no way to stop her.

* * *

><p>When she arrived at the meeting place, she heard screams. Not the high pitched screams of someone in terror, but the deep, hoarse yells of someone in pain. She found a body jerking on the floor, and for a moment she thought there was blood, and ran towards the person, but then realized that their suit had just been torn and that was just his hair.<p>

Kamon.

When she realized it was him, she ran even faster, and quickly bent down to hold him in her lap. His eyes were glazed over, and he was screaming and jerking his arms everywhere.

"Stop it! Stop it! N-No! D-don't! D-don't!" He tore at his hair, and tried to struggle out of Kris's arms, but she held him tightly, and tried getting him to snap out of it. His watch was beeping dangerously, a dangerous orange flash kept on repeating, and Kris was panicking. What would she do now? It wasn't as if she could do anything.

She could see him try to tear at his eyes. There were scratch marks all around his eyes, and blood was seeping out of them, and Kris wasn't sure what she could do. It appeared that his eyes were the ones bothering him.

"N-no! T-they're not t-this! N-not red! N-not red! No! G-get away from me! G-get away!"

Kris was desperate; she quickly tore off the ribbon on her wrist and tied it around his eyes, so that he wouldn't be able to hurt them anymore; he was paranoid, there was no other option. She tried to calm him down, murmuring comforting words and gently rubbing his arm, trying to calm him down. His breathing quickened at first, but soon, his body relaxed and he stopped screaming. Kris then started talking more, that she was there and that he was okay, murmuring words to calm him down, and soon, his watch flashed back to a metallic blue.

She continued speaking, even when he grew unresponsive. There was no way to wake him up, except for calling the agency. She decided that it didn't seem right to contact the agency, so she waited still.

When he did wake up, the first thing he asked was for Kris.

Not for "Crystal", the name she had told him, but "Kris".

"K-Kris? Is that you? Is it...really you?"

She was startled. She took the ribbon off, tied it on his arm (it was actually supposed to have been his birthday present, but now...) and then she finally saw his face.

He looked almost exactly like Silver. But his eyes were different. It was Kamon, because he had those empty eyes. His eyes were still a little clouded over, but he appeared to be staring at her. She bent over him, searching him, when he started raising his arm feebly. His hand reached out for her bangs, and then he touched her hair, rubbing it, and her strange blue hair that made her easily recognisable was apparently familiar to him. She then realized that her uniform had torn as well, when Silver was trying to fight his way out, and that her hair and face were visible now.

"Y-you weren't killed-"

A loud beeping soon was heard from Kamon's watch, and Kris saw sparks fly out from it as Kamon screamed again in pain, and this time, his body immediately crumpled in her arms.

She panicked. What was she supposed to do now? And how did Kamon know her? Weren't their memories all erased?

But soon, an official from the agency came and told her that their memories had to be erased. Kris looked around, startled that the official had come so quickly and kind of scared of what would happen to the both of them. After all, what is unknown is scary. The official looked at the ribbon on Kamon's hand, and asked Kris if it was his. What should she say? She couldn't say that it was his birthday present, or else they would definitely have to be separated, because that was secret information.

Kris responded that it was her present to him. (What kind of present?) A regular one. (Why would you give it to him?) It was just a thought. (Are you sure?) Yes.

And then the official took out their own watch, and Kris could only see-

* * *

><p>The next day, Kris woke up in her room, feeling oddly rested for once. It was strange. She remembered having returned with Kamon at the regular time, three o'clock, but she actually felt rested too. She remembered having given him the ribbon (which he had just taken and tied on his wrist) just before they left, and Kris felt happy that Kamon accepted her gift. It was nice, to know that there was actually a person that she could call a friend in her life.<p>

Silver, however, looked much worse.

He had a ton of bandages on his face, and when she asked, he had snorted and said that he got into a fight with a stupid Ethan, and Ethan confirmed it. However, Ethan didn't have any scratches on him at all, and Kris joked that Ethan was much better than Silver at dodging attacks. Silver grew angry, and pushed Kris lightly to show his annoyance.

However, Ethan soon pointed out a ribbon on Silver's arm. Kris noticed that the ribbon looked a lot like the one she had given Kamon, although this one was bloodied and dirtied. Ethan asked Silver where he had gotten it, and Silver's face grew confused, as he stated that he didn't have a ribbon and that, hey idiot Ethan, did you purposely put a stupid ribbon on his hand?

But then Kris watched as his eyes grew dim for a moment, almost to the point where they became black (she felt like she had seen those eyes somewhere before). However, Silver's eyes soon became red again, and he was back to joking around. It didn't seem as if he was affected by it at all, so Kris didn't pay much attention to it, but Kris saw him again, during lunch, eyes dark and washing the ribbon and putting it back on his arm.

When he came back, his eyes were red again, and he asked Ethan and Kris confusedly why the ribbon was suddenly clean. Ethan blinked confusedly at Silver, and then joked that he was the one who washed it, idiot-

It was then that Kris thought that something really was wrong with Silver. But then again, she was just a kid, and, who knows, maybe the agency had some special weapon to erase memories in a flash?

* * *

><p>AN

*has no idea how to write stories

*i think I actually have a plot of some sort planned out now


	8. the story of weakness, moreso

**viii. the story of weakness, moreso**

* * *

><p><em>"I don't like the colour red. Everything's red. My hair's red, his hair's red, his eyes are red, Pokeballs are red, and the blood that comes out when I cough is red as well. The sky is red, the plains with scattered bodies are red, and evil is red as well. I don't like red. I don't like him. I don't like red eyes. Get them away from me. But you're the only one who's okay. You're the only one that I like. You're blue. And not that sky blue or light blue, that everyone likes. You're royal blue. You're empty. You're not happy, or angry, or sad. You're empty, like me. Like my colour black."<em>

**_"You'll like me more than him, won't you? I'm so alone. Everyone ignores me. Please promise me this, alright? Please keep this promise, and promise me that you'll hate him for me."_**

**_"Thank you for agreeing, _****Kris****_. We'll stay together, forever, and ever, and ever. I love you."_**

* * *

><p>Lyra looked at Kris and Silver from the door of the cafeteria, seething. How dare he hang out around that girl! Honestly, it seemed as if all Silver and Ethan did these days was hang around Kris! She had had this argument with Ethan before, who then quickly grew angry and said that he wished to be near Kris so he would, and Silver hadn't taken her side! Those traitors! Looking at Silver, she saw him smirk and joke around with Kris and Ethan. She could see a ribbon dangling from his arm; <em>what was that ribbon? Was it from her?<em>

She wasn't sure why, exactly, she was feeling this way. Obviously, Silver was her best friend and his happiness should be enough for her to ignore the fact that it was the girl she hated that was dating him, but she just felt a sense of betrayal. She knew that it was wrong to think that way, because she _had _rejected him years ago; but he promised to love her forever. She hated how he went against all of her expectations. He had promised to be loyal and stuff before, when she had told him adamantly that she was in love with Ethan, and he even went to the depths of telling her all of his deepest secrets to prove his love.

It was sweet, but now she was furious that all of that went to dust.

So, storming over to the boy who was peering curiously at the ribbon on his hand, she cleared her throat and stared sternly at the boy. Silver stared up at her in shock, before worriedly looking at her, asking her if she was alright. She grit her teeth, and without even asking him to go with her, dragged him with her out of the lunchroom. She could see Kris looking frantic as she glanced nervously towards the door, and Lyra smirked.

At least now, Kris wouldn't be with Silver.

The sight annoyed her for some reason. Then, thinking about it again, she decided to quit thinking about it. There was no need to overthink useless things. So Lyra smiled and pulled on Silver's sleeve, which still had that annoying ribbon on it.

"...Lyra, are you alright? You look a bit strange..." Silver trailed off, frantically searching Lyra's face for any sign of fatigue or anything. However, she made sure that she appeared like normal, and she started dragging him towards the library, where they could be away from that annoying girl.

(Also, why didn't that stupid Ethan come along! Then we could all leave that annoying girl!)

"Lyra, shouldn't we go tell Kris that we're going?"

_Kris_.

Lyra grit her teeth, eyes growing cold. She turned around, and smiled rather sternly. So, even now, he was thinking about that stupid girl, wasn't he? That moron! He wasn't supposed to care a tiny bit about the enemy, yet he even agreed to date her! Nothing infuriated Lyra more than idiocy and mistakes, and this boy was certainly the embodiment of both! Almost groaning out loud in frustration, she turned around and looked at the boy next to her, eyes hiding some malice of sort behind them.

"No."

* * *

><p>"So, how are you this fine day...?" Kris looked at Ethan strangely, whose cheeks were just a tiny bit red, and who was looking at Kris strangely. Kris moved slightly back a bit, confused by his question. She looked at him questionably, and she could tell he was getting frustrated by the fact that his mouth was in a strange position, as if they were gritting but trying to smile. He looked weird.<p>

He then shook his head and gestured for her to come closer, which she did. He put her hand up to her ear, and she squirmed. She didn't normally like being touched, and it was strange to have Ethan come so close to her. It was odd, the way that Ethan treated her so nicely, and she felt uncomfortable in a pleasant way whenever around him. She didn't dislike his presence, of course, but it still felt weird.

She almost missed the words he said.

"Yesterday, did anything happen like I told you?"

Kris just furrowed her eyebrows, and tilted her head sideways.

"What did you tell me?"

He looked at her suspiciously, eyes narrowed, discerning. He leaned closer again, and looked at her, his brow raised.

"Y'know, about the weird presence I felt."

She didn't remember a weird presence. In fact, she couldn't remember encountering Ethan at all yesterday, and- since when did Ethan talk to her on the way out? Kris looked at him weirdly again, and just made a snorting sound, not really sure what he was talking about.

"Right, right, monitor boy, it was probably a dream you had from sleeping on the job."

Somehow, Ethan dropped the topic, but she could tell that he was working something out in his mind. Whatever. It wasn't as if anything actually happened, anyway. Kris went back to eating her brioche, but she was thinking over why Ethan actually believed something happened. He couldn't have done something to raise the agency's suspicions, did he? And if so, why would they leave him with such an odd memory? She decided to just forget about the whole thing, even though one thought lingered in her mind.

(But yesterday was normal right? Was it possible that the memory of yesterday was altered?)

* * *

><p>"Kamon! Did you like my gift! Where is it!?" Kris sped up to catch up, and the boy smiled gently before looking back at her. It was tied around his neck, a strange place to put a gift, but still understandable nonetheless, and she could feel a strange sense of pride knowing that he actually valued her gift. Giggling a bit to herself, because Kamon was generally quiet and stern-looking and then there was this weird blue ribbon around his neck that made him look quite goofy, she could tell she offended Kamon momentarily because he suddenly smirked and started skating even faster.<p>

She hated how he looked so fragile yet athletic. It was strange; he was the princely type, it appeared. He would be kind yet stern, and he certainly was a wonderful ally to have when they fought against enemies, but it seemed that his eyes never changed. They were stable, yet emotionless.

She suddenly wondered what they would be like if the Escalation never happened.

Would they be friends? Rivals? Enemies? Or maybe even...something else? Blushing furiously at the last thought, she coughed and let her bangs fall down in front of her to avoid being seen in her flustered state, deciding that there was no way that she could ever be..._that_, with Kamon. Although, she mused, he would definitely make a good boyfriend...

"Er, Crystal? Are you alright?"

Her head quickly shot up and she blurted out that, yes, she was fine, and that she didn't need his pity or anything, but she was soon interrupted from her train of thought when she saw him smile. Arceus, she could never yell at him or anything when he was smiling. She had always felt a bit weak around him, not because of his skills or strength or anything, but the fact that something inexplicably sorrowful yet happy at the same time always incurred whenever she was around him or thinking of him.

"Alright then...so, thanks for the present. Why did you give me it?"

Her train of thought was interrupted again, and this time, she stared at Kamon, blinking in disbelief. Didn't he tell her it was his birthday?

"Er, it was your birthday yesterday."

His face adopted a weird look, and for a moment, she could've sworn that his eyes had turned red, but soon she was staring back at cold eyes, face unchanging.

"Huh. When did I tell you that?"

Kris came to a conclusion in the back of her mind, even though she was successful in trying to ignore it. It was apparent.

Something must've happened. But it wasn't like she could change it.

"Huh. Well, thank you anyway. I must say, I like the colour blue very much. It's nice. It makes me feel kind of safe, in a way. Thank you, Crystal."

She soon quickly forgot about the discrepancy in memories as she started blushing and smiling again, and Kamon just rolled his eyes and grinned. There were times when she could swear that they got a bit _closer_ than normal people got with each other, but she just grabbed his hand and suddenly started pulling him, as he yelped and almost fell on his back. The two raced each other around the empty land, eyes scanning for any sign of living objects, and their hands grasped even tighter when nothing, absolutely nothing, was found.

Just two people alone in a despair-ridden world.

* * *

><p>There was still an hour left, but because of the race, they had finished patrolling in a short amount of time. Now, they weren't exactly ecstatic about having finished the job; after all, the more time they had left to themselves, the more they could be overtaken by despair and whatnot. Also, there was something about doing patrols that made them solemn. They sat down, on a rock on the side of a barren hill, and stared up at the moon. The moon was smaller than usual. The moon was moving farther and farther away, and it was because of this move that the environments were being changed. Pokemon were being extinct. The Pokedex, which so many kids in the academy had, was the last account of certain species, and thus was to be protected with life.<p>

So, Kris wondered aloud what their past lives were like.

It was just simple curiosity, and Kris wasn't expecting anything out of Kamon, but she was surprised when he sighed and laid down. He covered his eyes with his sleeve, and Kris looked at him curiously. She kept on waiting for an answer, but after a minute of silence, assumed that he was not to answer and laid back with him.

He then sighed again, and started.

"I think...I have a brother. He was...red. Red hair, red eyes, and a red heart. He was...headstrong and reckless, and always willing to defend whomever he cared about. But...then I was recruited by the academy. I don't think I remember much about him. We were both just ten, and the agency wiped out most of my memories about him... I know his birthday, though. We're twins; I think we were almost identical...but since he had red eyes, we were considered just normal twins. We both cared about this one girl though, whose name I can't exactly remember. I think...she was a quiet girl. Pretty. Not the average girl. I remember that just before I was recruited, I shouted for him to protect her, but I couldn't hear his response as they had put me to sleep. I don't really...know where he is."

She didn't say a word. She knew her words sounded too morose and pessimistic to sound as if she wasn't sad. She was sad. She was sad, and empty, and rolling down a hill to her demise, but she could not let anyone else know. She didn't really believe that they'd find each other again. It was apparent that there was almost no chance of finding anyone again, and that resistance to the side you obeyed was futile. She could feel herself panicking at this realization, because weren't people controlled by despair and stuff when they thought like that-

"You don't need to think too much about it. I actually don't think much about him, to tell the truth."

He paused, taking in a deep breath and staring at the moon, still. Stars speckled the sky, and Kris could feel this nostalgia flowing her because of something she could sense she once experienced.

She suddenly got the impulse to reach over to Kamon and grab onto him, making sure that he'd never go. She suddenly got a feeling that she'd lose him, fast. There was something about that didn't seem right, like something was going to happen that would devastate her, and she needed to make sure that it wasn't him. He couldn't be the one she'd lose.

No, she was sure this wasn't love, as she stared desperately into his eyes, wandering over his face. He was confused, and she could see the worry in his eyes. His eyes. Those eyes would be gone soon, she thought. Something was going to happen. Something bad. This wasn't love. This was a need, a _reason__, _but it was not love.

It couldn't be, because they both knew that she was too far gone to love.

"I noticed a long time ago, y'know. You don't have to say anything... You can't feel anything anymore, can you?" He slowly rolled the words off of his tongue, tentative as if trying to figure out how to word it all. He turned away from Kris, but grabbed onto her hand. She slowly squeezed his hand back, hands trembling as she tried to hold back her sobs. She was silent.

That's why she didn't care if she made a fool of herself. That's why she didn't care about even the boy she liked. That's why she could do things without restraint. That's why she wondered if she even belonged on this world.

They sat there for another half hour, just staring at the sky, with a pair of eyes too empty to be normal and another pair of eyes too sad to be empty.

Soon after, Kamon stood up, taking another deep breath.

He held out his hand, and Kris took it.

On the way back, they were in near silence the whole time. Her back had turned, and she was about to jump away, when he broke the silence with one last sentence.

"...If it makes you feel better, I must be far gone as well, if ever since I was little, I wished Silver to die."

Her eyes widened, and she swiftly changed her direction; but when she turned back, there was nothing there, except for a blue ribbon floating to the ground and some dark device lying on the ground. When she bent to pick it up, her eyes widened with horror as she realized it was his watch. She tensed up when she realized there was a person behind her. Not wanting to confront the person first, she looked down at the screen of his watch.

The signal shown was red.

And red was the last colour she saw when she blacked out.

* * *

><p>AN

Alright, I actually have a plot in mind for this story! Yeah, it might be confusing right now, but this will probably be revealed soon because I honestly suck at timing and transitioning in stories. So...yeah.

Again, apologies to whomever follow this story and stuff, because it honestly is crap. XD Er, please don't hate me if I don't really focus on Kris's interactions with Ethan anymore ;~; I have now thought of a better plot and I will go and change chapter one's summary so- /please don't kill me those of you who wanted a love square this has turned out to be a dystopia fic I'm so sorry and it'll have a lot of inaccuracies and stuff


	9. a promise to be kept

**ix. a promise to be kept**

* * *

><p><em>"Hey...I have a question for you, Kris. If...I were to...die, before you, and my brother doesn't die, would you...do me a favour? As you know, I've been...a bit sick, recently, and...you know about his whole personality problem, right? I mean, it's alright if you don't want to do this, because you're the last person I would ever want to pressure...and you know that, right? You are everything to me...you know, so I wouldn't wish to burden you at all."<em>

_The boy in front of her, who has a shaking and trembling body, coughs. She rushes to him, and he seems familiar but she isn't really sure, but either way, she finds herself patting him on the back, and worriedly asking him if he's alright. The boy lifts his head, and smiles; but Kris just can't seem to see his eyes. She gets this feeling that he hates his eyes, but the persistent hacking and choking noises coming from him disrupt her train of thought. He smiles, gently, and even though Kris can't see his expression or anything except for his smile, she finds herself feeling nostalgic nonetheless._

_The boy reaches out for her, and suddenly, she realizes that she's crying. The boy then cradles her face in his hands, and tilts his head to the side, not even saying a word, and she isn't sure why she knows, but she realizes that he's scared as well. They're all scared. No one can be prepared for death. She doesn't know where this sudden feeling of dread gathers in her stomach, and suddenly she's hyperventilating as well, screaming at him that no, he isn't going to die, and that she's not going to let him-!_

_But the boy then smiles sadly and takes a step back. He turns his head to look at the area around them, and she looks as well, and she can see his brother, out of hearing range but running up to them to call them to dinner, and she notices that he takes a big breath. His brother's voice echoes around the valley, through the hills that they play and roll around in, and she has a sinking feeling that it may be the last time she'll ever see these hills again. It's as if there's no time left, and the boy in front of her is rushing to get his words out, and she realizes that he has something to say before his brother comes, so she quickly nods and motions for him to speak._

_"So, um, if I...die before my brother does, would you...er...god, how am I supposed to say this!?" He laments, and Kris can feel her knees shaking as she's pressuring him to speak, to continue speaking, because she would do anything for him!_

_"Would you, um..."_

_His brother is extremely near now, and she can hear his brother's irritated voice calling up from the bottom of the hill they're standing on, and she realizes that this may be the only change he has, and he's losing it, fast._

_Something changes in the boy's attitude, and suddenly, he's defiantly staring at her, grabbing her shoulders as he sternly and stubbornly states his request._

**_"Would you kill him for me?"_**

_"Guys, it's time for dinner!"_

* * *

><p><em>Suddenly, she's standing in the middle of a bedroom. It is the middle of the night, and the silhouette of a boy is reflected in the mirror. She then turns away from the mirror, to find herself face to face with the boy. No, wait, it isn't the boy. Looking closely at the boy in front of her, she realizes that they are different. It is the boy from the previous area's brother. But she doesn't remember who this boy is.<em>

_This boy is angrily muttering to himself, and she can sense the frustration and anger on him. It scares her just a little bit. She has this feeling of wanting to run, of wanting to get away from here, because this boy cannot be trusted, she was told. She finds herself thinking that if she just threw him out of the window, how happy the boy from before would be. But she's interrupted by the boy standing right in front of her, and when she finally turns her thoughts back to the situation at hand, the boy in front of her is grabbing her, grip tight on her arms. It hurts, and she struggles to get free, but the boy in front of her pulls her even closer to him, making sure she won't escape. Panic is overriding all other instincts she has, and she's clawing at him, trying to hurt him, so that she can escape and she's scared!_

_The boy doesn't care, and retains his tight grip on her. He angrily barks out each and every question, but she forces herself to not listen._

_"Hey, Kris? I know you're closer to my brother than I am," and the boy leans in closer to her, anger swirling around in his eyes, and she's even more terrified now, because those eyes were the eyes of a killer,_ **_blood_ _red_**_,__ "and I know you're closer to him than you are to me, but I want you to answer this question," his grip is tighter now, and he forces her to stare inside those eyes that she hates, and his brother hates, and she just wants to scream out and **kill the boy right in front of her-!** "Does my brother hate me? Is he scared of me? Why does he look at me like that whenever I'm near?"_

_His grip leaves her arms feeling numb, and she manages to wrench herself away from him, disgust curled in her lip. She moves to make a run, and her arms still burn, and there are still imprint of his hands where they were around her arms. She finds, with a horror, that he's locked the door. She hates him, she hates him, **she hates him**._

_The boy moves closer to the door, and Kris shrinks and looks down at the ground, to where the floor looks black in the night, to nice, calming **black**. The boy continues on a tangent. His spit is flying in her face, as he yells at her, and she feels this disgust, and hatred, emanating from herself, that she never even thought was possible._

_"And why is he always smiling around you? He does this thing with his lips, where they curl up, around you, and yet when I'm near, and I'm even his brother, he **doesn't even want to look at me**!"_

_She spits at his face, with all the hatred and anger and fury that a ten year old girl can have, and takes this chance to run away. The only way out is the window, which is open. The moon shines uncharacteristically bright tonight, and there's this feeling of dread pooling in her stomach._

_She's desperate._

_But the boy in the room is even more desperate, not even trying to stop her, and she suddenly hears sobs fill the room. She doesn't look back, because she's disgusted by him, and how dare he ever **think that he deserves such a wonderful brother that he has, and how he thinks that anything he could do would help his brother love him-!**_

_She's halfway out of the window, ready to call out the Crobat his brother had given her, and she hears him suddenly yell-!_

_"And why do you hate me!? Why!? Have I done something!? Why!?"_

_The boy whips around, tears dripping, as he tries to stop Kris from leaving. Crobat pops out, and she holds onto it, and just before leaving, she sends the boy a glare she never thought she was capable of. She can see the shock on the boy's face, his eyes shimmering with tears, and she thinks that this boy is the most disgusting, vile thing in the world, so **she never wants to see him again and she'll definitely kill him!**_

_"**Kris, you little coward! Come back here! Tell me! Tell me why you hate me! Tell me why you hate me when I l- y-!"****  
><strong>_

_She can't hear the rest of his sentence, but she doesn't want to hear either way, because she hates the boy, and the boy deserves to **die**._

* * *

><p><em>She was running. She had to. Shots were being fired all over, and she had to duck behind multiple buildings to try and save them. She had taken the two brothers out, because they were aiming for them, but to her horror, they had gotten ahold of one of them! They had just taken him! They were taking him and then he fell limp in their arms, probably weak from that weird sound on their watches! She had seen other people fall as the people with the watches walked by, they had only taken him! She grit her teeth, as there was this strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. And she knows, she's fargone, and she's inhumane for thinking this, but she knows what it is she's feeling.<em>

_She's glad._

_She's glad that it was **he** who was taken._

_She's glad that it wasn't the boy she's carrying now._

_But, now looking at the limp body in her arms, blood rushing out of a wound in his chest from a gunshot, she angrily blinks back tears, while trying to comfort him and herself that he isn't going to die. He just isn't. And she's frantically searching for things to keep him alive, but he slowly, with all of his effort, lifts up his hands and shushes her._

_"...R-run...Kris..."_

_And then there's this searing pain inside of her, and her world turns dark. She hears his voice echo inside of her mind, repeating her name, his last words, but there are other, annoying, nasally, and disgusting voices that reach her ears.**  
><strong>_

_"Tch, this girl is annoying. We've already lost both of our targets because of her. Put her down, now."  
><em>

* * *

><p>He's surprised when they actually find a member of the agency, and a girl nonetheless, because he thinks that it's all too weird to have a member of the agency by themselves. He doesn't remember what happens in the night, normally, but the leaders always tell him that in order to keep the organization a secret, they can't risk having him remembering reconnaissance missions during the night. He's been doing these missions for about two years, far longer than many of the other members, and so has become a high ranking commander.<p>

He was never one to really care much about it all, though.

He wonders why, really the agency and the organization had to fight. Wasn't it useless? Humans and all living things were dying. What was the use of a war between the two? A way to kill more people, quicker?

He's brought to the room where the captive is kept, and it's amazing how much restrain he has over his emotions, because everything suddenly changes for him. He's always been bored; growing up, nothing was interesting. Even though he likes Lyra, he knows that she's boring. Always, predictable, unwilling to change. That's why he targets her, because surely even the most boring person can let go, couldn't they?

He's second-in-command; first in command is a person who he's never met. Everything is entrusted to him, the one who could deceive anyone, and do everything. It's boring, and he has no entertainment whatsoever. He's evil for thinking so, but he honestly doesn't give a crap about who wins, if someone wins, or if they all lose.

He's decided that there's no time left for things like that, so now everything is for his amusement. He knows that it's a psychotic way of thinking, that he'd probably be classified as insane, but what he can remember of his childhood has resulted in this. He can't remember much, but he remembers something. A horrible hatred, a jealousy, of his brother, who was everything he was not, yet knows happiness.

He's considered the perfect child. To his parents who have passed away, he's genius. And yet, in the end, his brother doesn't care for him at all. And the girl that was always around his brother, who he couldn't exactly remember, hated him as well. He wants to see his brother again. Years of isolation and losing family members has made him wish to see his brother again, and that's why he's joined the organization. He isn't evil. He wants closure, and he wants happiness back. He wants to see his brother, and that girl, again.

He may not have had happiness yet, but he figures that adrenaline, the rush that you feel, is a good enough substitute.

So that's why, when he sees an unconscious Kris lying on the ground, there's this sudden interest and quickening of his heart in his chest. He never knew that Kris was an agency member, and suddenly, he feels this rush of adrenaline that he hasn't felt for a long time, and he doesn't want it to end. So, the girl who was so contradictory was an agency member? For what purpose? And most of all, he wonders what fun he can have with her. Oh no, he's not thinking of anything perverse; rather, he's thinking of all the rules he'll break, and the excitement he'll have with that, when everything's done.

"Erase her memory of being captured."

The grunts serving under him gape, and he thinks about how useless each and every one of them are. But the grunts obey him anyway, wondering why their commander was releasing a valuable source of information, but he whips out his own device and erases their memories. They're knocked unconscious, and he has his Pokemon bring them to the corridor, where if they wake up, they'll be punished for not immediately obeying their commander.

He retires for the night, bending down to pick up the still-unconscious Kris from the ground, and calling out his Crobat, he flies to their school.

He sees Ethan, who doesn't notice him back. He wonders how many times Ethan's seen Kris exit the school, and then mocks Ethan in his head for liking her too much.

When he gets to Kris's room, he notices how her room is extremely messy. Everything's sown about, and he cringes at the thought of her living here; he doesn't hate her, and he knows he never will, but honestly, her room is something he could live without. But, with the moonlight shining in from her window, he swears that she looks familiar and a bit angelic for a moment, before he notices that her face is really kind of plain.

He lays her down in her bed. He then, with an eager smile on his face, kisses her on the forehead.

He whispers good night, then heads to his room. No one's out, so he can walk about freely, but even if there was, he has a device to erase their memories. Laughing to himself inside his room, he blushes at what he just did to Kris and paces around childishly, before his eyes darken and he chuckles and licks his lips at the entertainment he's just found.

Well then.

His girlfriend was going to be more interesting than he thought.

* * *

><p>AN

So, another crappy chapter. XD And the reason why Silver's acting so weird is because of something that'll be revealed later. However, there's already been some clues as to what exactly is wrong with Silver!

Does anyone else notice how I tend to switch writing styles easily? It's really obvious...

Also, I thought of the best idea for a story, and maybe one day I'll write it, so I guess I'll write a little bit of it here to make sure I don't forget it.

_Summary:_

_In a world where sacrificing something of your own gives you power, the things you sacrifice are the determining factor in how powerful you get. People sacrifice money, jewelry, and other lives to get what they wish for. The four most powerful things to sacrifice, are almost never sacrificed. People are content to sacrifice material things, and sometimes not even that, but when it comes to these four things to sacrifice, no one has ever done these. But one day, the whole world learns of two people who have each sacrificed one of the most powerful things, and they are immediately put together to work as a partner team in crime._

_So when Hilda, who's chosen to give up her emotions forever, finally sees her ex, Hilbert, as her partner, again after Arceus knows how many years, she can only find herself in what would be a horrifying situation. _

_She still remembers everything, including the pain he once gave her, although she feels pain no more._

_But- and she realizes that she's in a dangerous situation here- Hilbert has chosen to give up his memories of her, and she finds out, in horror, that he's fallen in love with her again._


	10. and a promise never to be made

**x. and a promise never to be made**

* * *

><p><em>"Hey, Kris? You know how my brother's great at everything, right? Ahaha, I really respect him, but he doesn't pay me any attention at all," the boy kicks a pebble on the side of a deserted road, silence reigning over the long stretch of pavement that their eyes can see. It is evening, and there is not a single soul for miles; the two of them ran away from a party hosted by the company his father ran. After all, they weren't the main attraction of the party at all. Well, actually, Kamon was. <em>_The party was to find suitable matches for the Rocket Corporation's two sons, but no one wanted to be stuck with the boy who was bad at everything compared to his brother._

_"I probably respect Brother the most, out of everyone. It's a bit weird, that even though I'm the older twin, he's the one who's being prepared to inherit everything we have, but it just makes you wonder how talented Brother is. Father doesn't like me at all. He always yells at me for being alive, and hits me and curses at me. Hah, Brother must be truly amazing if he can live up to Father's expectations. You're the only one who thinks that I'm better, and you don't care much for Brother. Father says that I'm not allowed to call either of them by any other name, so I must be formal towards them."_

_The boy stops walking, to realize that she's started crying. She feels miserable. Why does he, and not the other one, get punished? It's not his fault that he's good at the arts, while his brother is good at studies! His brother and father are the ones at fault, and she feels this innate desire to punish them for all the harm that the boy in front of her has ever encountered. The boy's eyes widen, and then he frantically shakes her and she's staring into those eyes, those deep, empty eyes that she's never seen in anyone else._

_"Eh? Kris? Why are you crying? Oh, it's not their fault I'm so useless. P-please don't cry for me, I'm not deserving of your tears. I would never wish for anyone to cry because of me. So please don't feel sad for me, I don't wish for you to be burdened, especially when you've run away from home just to be with me! Oh, I still cannot see why you would ever leave your home and betray your friends like that for silly little me, and leave all of the Pokedex holders behind!"_

_She suddenly starts walking again, and she hopes that the boy next to her will follow her, so that they can escape and he'll never be hurt again; but while he was walking after her before, he has now realized her intentions and she stops hearing the crunch of shoes on gravel and pavement. She turns around, tears still shining in her eyes, and she's sniffling still, and she just wants to scream at the boy, because all she wants to do is make sure that he'll never get hurt! However, he doesn't follow, and she realizes with a falling sense of hope that he'll never run away with her ever again._

_"Huh? Run away again with you? Kris...I don't feel as if I need to run away. If I did so, I would never be able to see Brother smile again. And while I cherish you...please forgive me for this, I cherish him more. But please don't feel bad! I still would do anything for you, and I really appreciate you, I do! But...are you sure you wish to be stuck with a boy like me? I adore my younger brother, moreso than I'll ever admire you. I'll always have him in the front of my mind, and you in the back. Are you sure you still want to be with me, an arrogant prat who will never, never, save you if it meant leaving his brother behind?"_

_So he still doesn't understand. He still doesn't understand. Sure, she's supposed to be happy that he'll never love her and she'll never be able to hurt him because of that, but he still doesn't understand her at all! She wants him to understand her, and she thinks that maybe she really is the stupidest person alive because who else would expect something from other people, so her knees tremble and she falls to the ground. She hears those soft footsteps gradually getting louder, until she feels his hand running through her hair, and she's wrapped in his embrace. He doesn't cuddle her, and she's happy because of that, but it still hurts, that he'll never understand it, even if he says he does!_

_"...Ah, I get it now. This is what you were trying to tell me before, weren't you? I never realized what the term meant until now, and I must apologize. If it...really makes you happy to be like this, then I guess I can't try to separate you from your happiness... I'm sorry. I'll pretend to be in love with you, and you'll know that I will never love you like that, so that you will be happy. Gee, how does someone even have a romantic orientation like that? Pfft, you sure are weird. I guess knowing that I'll date you only because you have feelings for me is something that makes you happy, huh? You sure are weird, huh, Kris? I never would've thought that something like **lithromanticism** existed?"_

_The boy smiles, and Kris can only fake a smile back, because he **doesn't really understand, and he's just repeating what she's said to him before on the rooftop. He'll never understand. That's how Kris starts lying, and that's the start of her contempt for love. She doesn't care, anymore, she'll just want him to be happy.**_

_She wipes away the tears on her face, one of her last, and she smiles at him. Kris nods, and with an outreached hand, waits for the boy to grab her hand, to return to his home._

_"...Hey, Kamon, let's go."_

_She realizes that he'll never fall for one of her tricks again, and for some reason, she feels as if her whole world is crashing down before her very eyes. When they were younger, she used to force Kamon to promise that he'll never leave her behind, but already, it seems that he's growing up without her. She wants to make him promise it again, but she knows that he won't fall for it again._

* * *

><p>"Hey, Kris, why are you even with Silver? You know he doesn't like you, right?"<p>

In the eyes of a normal spectator, Ethan appears to be harsh and cold. Obviously, he is not gentle with his words, and the stance he's taken on makes him appear anything but gentle; his arms folded crossly, lips in a sneer, and a rolling of the eyes isn't really the epitome of kindness. In fact, Ethan wonders why exactly he's even telling Kris this, because maybe she _doesn't_ know, and maybe she was deluding herself this whole time; and maybe, Ethan doesn't have any right to tell her this. Ethan knows he's being greedy, and that maybe, maybe, there's a part of him that hopes she'll leave Silver for him, but he doesn't want to admit that he has such a side, and he doesn't want her to know either.

He sees Kris pause for a moment and she smiles at him, before taking some steps towards him. He stiffens up, because really, _Kris doesn't smile and if she does, something's wrong. _He knows that she never smiles, because she's always been cold and stern, and he has to admit, he doesn't really want to see a warm and smiling Kris, the twisted bastard he is. So he's watching closely at the girl who never smiles, and she even chuckles a bit before she extends her hand, and he finds himself flinching because she's probably going to slap him-

Instead, she kisses him on the cheek, leaving him flustered, stands up on the tips of her toes, and whispers in his ear.

"It's my romantic orientation," she says. Ethan's considerably confused, because, wait, what does that term mean? Does she have a thing for arrogant bastards? Is she masochistic?

She elaborates, and the explanation leaves him wondering why nothing, yet everything, made sense.

"I'm lithromantic. To put it simply, in my case, I can only accept a one-sided love," she whispers, and she then flashes a grin at him before skipping away, leaving Ethan confused, and the realization that she'll probably never love him because of that comes crashing down. However, deep inside, he still thinks that she's wrong. She's wrong. There's no way anyone could ever love someone and fall out of love with them when they return their feelings. So, he thinks stupidly, he'll just get her to fall in love with him, so she'll renounce her title as a lithromantic.

However, he sees Silver go up and kiss Kris, rolling his eyes as if he dislikes it; but Ethan notices something different about him today, and how how he's oddly eager to spend time with her.

* * *

><p><em>"Hey, Kris. What exactly caused you to hate my brother? I can't wrap my head around anything you do; you're strange. You really are. You leave your position as Pokemon Champion, erase yourself from society and make everyone forget you with the help of Pokemon just to be with me, yet you dislike my brother. What exactly runs through your mind? I swear, you are the most confusing person I know. It's amazing how headstrong and brave you are. I wish I was as brave as you."<em>

_They're standing on the rooftop of Rocket Corporation. The three of them, Silver, Kamon, and Kris, used to spend all day up there. They used to be the best of friends; rather, Silver and Kamon used to be together all of the time, and then Kris jutted in. She still feels as if the two of them have a better relationship than she'll ever have, but Silver hasn't talked to them in a while. She knows that the two of them are closer than she'll ever be. The wind blows fiercely on the top of the large building than Silver and Kamon spend their whole time at, and Kris thinks that it would be easy to fall off here and the wind would be blamed._

_She takes a deep breath, and hopes that maybe, finally, she'll meet someone who understands. She hopes that Kamon will finally understand. Maybe, he'll finally understand, and she won't be shunned by him. She's been shunned for so long, because everyone she used to know told her that she was just going through a fad or trying to seek attention, and she was told by her friends that she was a monster. So she quietly states the reason why, and she can see him strain to hear her quiet voice, but she can see the sudden widening of his eyes, the shock apparent on his face. She diverts her eyes away from him, and she holds her breath, hoping that he'll understand._

_"...So, you used to have a crush on him? What went wrong there? Did he reject you horribly, or something? Why do you hate him so much? Or is it Father? But wait, if it was Father, then why would you like me? And you haven't asked me out or anything, that's also weird. Please tell me, Kris. Please tell me why you hate Brother!" He's visibly confused, and now here's the real hard part, and she tries to take a deep breath before screaming, but she doesn't want to see him feel disgusted by her!_

_**_It's in vain._**_

_"...He...returned your feelings? That's why!? Are you stupid!? Why would anyone ever hate someone just because they like them back!? Kris, explain this to me? What is wrong with you? Why would you ever reject my brother's love? God, if the two of you love each other, then just get married, goddamit! Brother would surely have the guts to run away with you, even though we're so young, and when the two of you grow up, you could definitely fall in love! Why are you like this!?" He screams at her, and it's the first time she's ever heard him scream, and she's covering her ears and she's hurt! She's horribly hurt, because the one person that she thought would be her friend no matter what probably hates her now, and she can't stand it anymore, so she lowers her hands from her head and then swings one and-_

**_Smack._**

_"...Y-you just slapped me. You-you slapped me! Why would you slap me!? Huh? Why!? Tell me why, Kris! Why are you so weird!? Why!? This is why I'll never be able to love you! You are the kind of person I hate! I hate anyone who hurts Brother! Brother's probably extremely hurt now! Why!?" Kamon is still screeching, his voice even able to be heard over the loud, noisy winds of the top of the building, and she hates that she's stupid for even telling him. She hates it. Ever since she was little, she's known she's headstrong and reckless. She doesn't think things through at all. Yet, everyone's told her that she has many talents; but it hurts even more, realizing that you're stupid for thinking that you're useless when you obviously have talents. Yes, Kris has an inferiority complex, she's been told; and she thinks that she must be one of the stupidest people in the world, because she **knows** that she's good at things, but she **believes** that she isn't!_

_Kamon has never realized that she's wanted to kill herself before. He's never realized that she has **tried** to kill herself before._

_"...W-what are you doing? H-hey, Kris? What are y-?"_

_It would be easy, she thinks to blame it all on the wind up here. It's enough to blow a person to the side She's on the edge of the roof, and could stare down at the empty streets below if she wished to. Kamon's standing there, shocked at her proximity to the edge. The Pokemon in her Pokeballs are banging against them frantically, but even they couldn't withstand the high speed of the winds up here. It would be so easy to just take a step back, make it look as if she tripped by accident, and then she'd be gone._

_It's not as if anyone would miss her._

_Kamon obviously wouldn't, because she's known for a long time about how his over-protectiveness of his younger brother._

_He's running towards her, and she thinks that she has one last chance-_

_But she decides not to take that step off, and in one second, Kamon's rushing over to her, pulling her by one arm off the edge of the roof and holding her tightly in his arms so that she doesn't escape. She feels this internal desire to just go and fight, to go and just rebel against everyone and anyone, but he holds her tightly, and even though he's inferior to his brother, he's still much more talented than Kris, and so she is unable to escape his arms._

_She dares to look up at him, and horror and panic is written on his face, and she watches it turn into relief when she stares into his eyes. It's the first time she ever thinks that empty eyes are beautiful, and she feels this thump in her chest. He's trembling, a bit, which is weird because isn't she supposed to be the one trembling, if she was the one to almost die?_

_But he holds her close to him, not letting her go, and he holds her tight even long after the sun has set, and won't let her go. She can still feel his heart thumping wildly, and she's a bit concerned for him, because he has problems with his heart and he might be in trouble; she tells him this, but he shakes his head no when she tells him to go his special doctor, and holds her stubbornly._

_She thinks she's in love._

* * *

><p>AN

***edit***

**Everyone, I changed the chapter titles it's 10:16 eastern time right now so if you see this you should probably go and look at the titles again orz**

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><p>AN

SCREECHES THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST I'VE EVER WRITTEN ABOUT LOVE AND STUFFS- /also I think this is the fastest I've ever updated this story orz

*To ConfettiCat: Ah, I actually meant for it to be psychological! /I'm so happy that you said that/

*Oh, and Pokemonredshipper, I know I never mention you, but I really do appreciate that you comment each time ;;v;; thank you so much

Ahaha, it's my birthday tomorrow! I'll be turning fifteen! /Finals just ended today so I'll be sleeping the whole day OTL

Ahaha, so "lithromanticism" is kind of weird. I suspect that I'm lithromantic, because of some situations, but I'm not really sure. I guess I have to wait to see...ahaha..I've already gotten some shit for it though... Ahaha, I'm content, like I have a fluttering feeling, when the first guy I liked didn't like me back, but when someone did, I got really repulsed and creeped out. Ahaha, please don't think I'm inhumane or something, but I understand if it's hard to comprehend. Ahaha. ..I've already gotten some crap about this, and what's worse is that it was from my acquaintance who was homosexual and depressed.

I have maladaptive daydreaming disorder, and I thought I have a chance of being lithromantic, and he completely spouted that I was just going along with the fad, that I just wanted attention.

And I'm thinking this: why would anyone want to claim that they daydream a lot, to the point of only having emotions in their daydreams, for attention? Also, lithromanticism is very rare, even amongst other romantic orientations such as panromanticism or aromanticism, so why would I choose the one that gets a lot of hate even from those? I don't understand his logic, but he's kind of a hypocrite, being homoromantic as well as homosexual, and saying that he's depressed.

He asked me why I can't feel emotions, and told me to "choose happiness". This is coming from the boy with depression. Really, how about I ask you to stop being depressed, and "choose happiness"? Why think that I'm lying?


	11. deceitful puppets hung by sincerity

**xi. deceitful puppets hung by sincerity **

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><p><em>"Um, sir..d-due to certain circumstances...we...we were...o-only able t-to get <em>_**one**__ of the twins you told us to g-"_

**_Slam._**

_Opening the door slightly, she can see the grown men in front of her shiver and quake with fear in front of her father. Her pigtails bounce animatedly as she takes energetic steps towards her father, joyously screaming out in delight and holding out her arms for a hug. At the sight of her, the stupid men shrink back, and she thinks that they're stupid, disgusting, __**less than human**__, if they would ever dare to disobey her daddy. That's right! Her daddy's the greatest in the world! Everyone is stupid and unworthy, compared to him! And she's Daddy's little princess! Daddy says that all the time!_

_She sits on Daddy's lap, her pigtails being redone by her father, and she looks at the men in front of her with practiced disdain. Her daddy always said that she shouldn't overemphasize it, but rather look as if they were lesser than her, and weren't deserving of being scrutinized; and when she perfected the look, her daddy patted her on the head and told her that she would grow up to be a great leader, and that she would definitely be married to the future head of Rocket Corporation. In fact, he said, she will even get to choose which of the twins to be married to!_

_"Hey, princess, what do you think Daddy should do with these __**ignorant men?**__"_

_Lyra smiles sweetly at her father, putting on an innocent smile, before raising her right hand up. The men in front of her are visibly trembling, and she feels exhilarated at how she can make them flinch. Her hands are already delicate, yet somewhat chubby (but cute! Daddy says they're cute!), and she purposely takes her sweet, slow time and enjoys this._

_With her thumb pointing upwards and pointer finger pointing straight at the man closest to her, her father pats her head. She knows what Daddy wants her to say, and that's what she'll say, because Daddy knows everything and because of that, she knows everything! Her hand's in the shape of a gun, and she even moves it around, aiming it at the many different men, because she likes seeing them tremble in fear. She's in awe at the power her daddy had over these men._

_She finally stops on one man, and giggles and looks at her father for confirmation. Her father smiles down at her. _

_"Hahaha!** Pew! Pew!**"_

* * *

><p><em>"What do you mean, I won't get to choose from twins!?"<em>

_She's angry. She's really angry at her daddy, because her daddy promised that she'd always have twins by her side, and one of them was missing! Taken by that stupid agency! Lyra won't be consoled, she won't stop yelling and kicking and screaming because there was only one of them here, and she wanted both! She doesn't care if it's hard to get, her daddy's the best in the world, and he has to be able to get it! He has to!_

_Why can't Daddy just get the other twin? It's not as if the agency is something to counter the organization; the agency is weak, and evil! Why shouldn't the organization be able to overpower them and get the second twin back? Lyra pouts and throws a tantrum, crying and shouting at her father, saying that her daddy's the worst in the world if he wasn't able to get a second twin._

_So, when her daddy asks her what she would like to do, she responds sweetly because she's a princess:_

_"If we only have one right now, **why don't we make the other one?**"_

* * *

><p>He never remembers what happens in the night. He sometimes finds himself just lying on the floor in the hallway, rubbing his eyes (which feel kind of weird) in order to clear his vision; and maybe sometimes some guys from his class will find him on the ground and laugh at him. Sometimes, he finds himself in weird positions; there was one night where he just suddenly found himself at the headquarters of the organization, which was really weird, but alright nonetheless. He supposes that it's better than being found in Kris's room or something.<p>

Silver doesn't really remember much, and it's been like that for a while.

Nevertheless, he knows that the only reason why he stays alive is because Lyra has to be protected, and that her father has told him to protect her. It was hard, really, and kind of boring as well; his job requires him to be completely loyal to Lyra, to even love her, but he supposes that he can't really fall in love with a person as uninteresting as her.

It's because of his connection to Lyra that he has his position, though, so he can't really argue with that.

Right now, they're out on a "date".

"Date" in quotation marks, because they're sitting by themselves in a library. It's a bit strange, really; the school even has a movie theater and shopping center, and apparently, Kris would prefer the library to those. He's a bit bored, though, since boredom is probably his motivation for everything. He thinks she might be interesting, what with her connection to the agency and such. But surprisingly, she's just lazy, apparently. She's not feminine at all.

He doesn't really know what to make of this information. She's not even the typical tomboy, who enjoys many of the things guys do; sure, she's definitely not "feminine", whatever that term entails, but she's definitely not "masculine" at all.

_She's just Kris._

It shocks him, a bit, how fondly he thought that in his head; of course, while it isn't overly fond, it still comes with a sort of resignation of some sort or something. Silver wonders if he's encountered her before, if he thinks there's something familiar like her; the thought's kind of appeared all over the place, recently. First it was that night, where he, for a moment, thought she was kind of pretty; there's just something about the way the light shone on her face and how she seemed distraught while asleep that reminded him of something in the past.

Silver realizes that he's been zoning out for some time already, and when he snaps back to reality, he notices that Kris is not looking at him. He frowns a bit, because she hasn't really shown much love towards him or anything. Slightly disappointed, he moves to sit next to her, and to peer at her book; and he starts chuckling when he realizes that she hasn't turned the page once. Moving closer to her, he can feel her stiffen up, and then she's pushed him off of the seat- something he'd never expect from other girls but kind of predicted would come from her.

He thinks it's a bit cute, though.

However, whenever he makes to hold her hand or something, she quickly refuses to do so; he isn't sure whether it's because she's shy or something. It used to be cute (and it's still kind of entertaining, the lengths at which she'll go to avoid being like a couple with him in public and in private), but now it kind of annoys him as well. His attempts have been more desperate lately, that he knows; it's also kind of a weird feeling for him, but for some reason he just can't accept her refusal to be...well...(he hates to say it, but) _lovely-dovey with him._

_Yeah, he's desperate._

But he's looking at how she's reading; eyes squinting so little that there are wrinkles and stuff appearing on her forehead, and then finds it marvelously entertaining how silly she looks. She's a strange one, Kris is. But, he supposes, it's a welcome change from all the boring things he has to put up with (he is just a teenager after all, despite his many accomplishments).

"...Hey, Silver? Do you have any family?"

He almost falls off his chair at the sudden question, mind not really processing what she's asked. The shock wears off quickly though, and like a practiced official, he reviews all possible answers he can give before deciding that there really is no harm whatsoever in telling her the truth. And it's not even the whole truth; so he just sighs and tries to think about his past. What he would give to meet his brother again.

He naturally has a faulty memory of the past, although he can at least remember his brother's name. With eyes that bore deep into the back of his mind, Kamon was always mysterious. As the older twin, he always spent time away from Silver, even though Silver idolized him to an extreme. Kamon was, in his mind, the best at art of his kind. However, one day, they met a girl; he can remember a sickly girl, one bruised and scared, trembling in the alley near the company, and he can remember how Kamon tried to lift her up but failed.

Silver's forgotten what the girl looked like. He remembers that he held somewhat of a strange feeling towards her, though. Perhaps jealousy?

So he decides to repeat everything, excluding the girl and the company, and for some reason, he sees Kris stiffen up at the sound of the name; eyebrow raised, he tilts his head in question at her behavior. Kris is staring at him, eyes wide, and knees shaking, and before he can ask what's wrong, he hears Kris's watch suddenly turn a bright orange. Her eyes roll back, and she crumples in her seat, book falling to the ground. Silver rushes over to her, and notices that she's unconscious. He tries to shift her into a more comfortable position, before noting that the watch is beeping frantically. Both the agency and the organization use the same watch, and looking down at his watch, he's in a dangerous position as well.

He needs to go, now. Before the agency finds him. And he decides to run away, because even though he know Kris wouldn't hand him in, the agency's people would still take him to their evil headquarters, wherever they were. They would definitely notice him.

_...He doesn't remember how he gets into the auditorium though_.

* * *

><p>...It's strange, and Kamon doesn't remember exactly why he's near the library, but he's exploring the school when suddenly, he can hear a loud beeping from the library. The noise is strangely familiar, and upon walking closer, he realizes what the noise is. He's heard it before in training, and he identifies it as a person in an unstable condition.<p>

He rushes towards the sound, almost tripping over his own feet in his rush to get there, and he's reporting the situation to the upper levels. He'll handle this situation, he says, since he's in close proximity to the area. After all, as a member of the agency, he has the tools to calm a person down when in a dangerous mode. However, and his eyes widen when he hears this, the superiors tell him that it's a very own member of the agency, and that makes him hurry up a bit, because members had a higher chance of succumbing to the disease than others.

It's strange to refer to the despair as a disease, but it takes over your mind and depletes your health in the very same way.

Turning around the corner of a bookshelf, far away, he can see a body laying comfortably in a chair. From looking at the person, it seems that they were just sleeping, but there's a faint orange light that catches his eye, and he heads towards it. He's not caring about the tidiness of books and stuff now, because he's just trying to run straight to that person, because a difference in seconds could determine how badly a person can be affected.

However, the blue hair of the person shocks him so much that he almost stops.

_I-is that who I think it is?_

He's grappling his way over there now, flinging bookshelves and chairs all to the side, jumping from book to shelf to desk to shelf as he's trying to reach the person, whose breathing was abnormally fast. Lining up his watch with the girl's, he waits for his watch to hurry up and sync to her's. When he finally hears the beep, the girl's personal information shows up, and while he has no time to search for actual details, her name haunts him and he's momentarily stopped again.

_Kris._

He's typing in a series of codes again, producing a code that releases a certain chemical hormone to change the chemical imbalance in Kris's body. Her heart beat is abnormally fast, and he's frustrated because if this really is who he thinks it is, then Arceus forbid her have any permanent damage that he could've prevented if he went faster. He's breathing heavily, frustration overwhelming him as he stares at her body, looking for any signs of her condition becoming better.

He never thought for a moment that there was a possibility of _her _being in this school that he'd enrolled in. Of course, on his very first day, he had seen this girl who resembled Kris so much, but he had dismissed her as a hallucination. Hallucinations were common to him; oftentimes he'd have dreams of living a different life, but he could've sworn that she was a hallucination.

But she's real. At least, this girl in front of him is.

Her breathing lightens considerably, although still quick-paced. Scanning her emotional status, he picks up some strains of distress. There's this horrible feeling that takes over him then, because this girl was already affected by the disease, and he wasn't able to prevent it; he feels distraught, knowing that he couldn't save this girl that was so much like Kris.

The girl stirs a little bit, and he immediately scans over the rest of her body for any possible injuries caused by her suddenly passing out; but it seems as if she landed in a strange, yet safe, position. He sighs in relief that at least her body doesn't have any physical injuries. He waits for her to wake up, because as a member of the agency, she has to be checked for any major signs of the disease. If she has major signs, she then has to be deleted. Her memories and everything would have to be deleted. She would be erased from the memories of everyone here, and she wouldn't even exist at all. It's a horrible fate, and that's why he hopes that he doesn't have to send in her code for deletion.

However, a half hour passes, and she still doesn't show any signs of waking up. He's panicking here, because maybe he accidentally gave an overdose to her, or gave the wrong dose, and maybe that's why she's not waking up-

But when she opens her eyes, he finds himself shocked at what he sees; those eyes are oh-so familiar. And then when her voice comes drifting into his ears, he can almost hear it singing like it did (albeit lower-pitched) in the past. So many things make themselves clear in his mind, yet so many other questions arrive unanswered. He almost stares in horror at the girl before him, and for some reason, he can't handle what he's feeling; he's shaking, hands held out in front of him as they clench and unclench. _Why didn't he notice it before? Why does he feel so strange now? And why does he feel as if something's not right?_

"...Silver?"

He can't believe that he hasn't noticed it before.

_Crystal- no, Kris._

_But she just called me Brother's name._

* * *

><p>AN

SCREECHES

...So, do any of you notice it yet...? No? Ahaha, I'm not going to tell you guys what you should notice (it's not really subtle but it's still a hard to come to conclusion), but I'll give you guys a clue! It's alluded to a lot in this chapter, but it might kind of be really weird! In fact, if the situation seems kind of hard to believe, it kind of has a higher chance of being right in this case, orz! Alright, so a very important event will happen later on in this story, and it's hinted at in this chapter (11), 9, 8, and 7. The main hint in is chapter 7: "a story of lies is weaved"! (I'm not going to tell you guys what the clue is, though) If you can guess what'll happen...well...er...you guys can ask for a prize? I'm not really sure what I can give though..ahaha...maybe a oneshot or something? Or maybe, if you're on deviantart, a bunch of points or something? /I'm so sorry

Ah, I actually like this story way more than my other one... I definitely have to rewrite both of these stories one day because they suck. Ahaha, but I really love this one. I'm just kind of unsure how to write. Also, I think the Lyra I wrote here is really kind of scary... This may be one of the most psychopathic versions of child!Lyra I've ever seen...

(Oh, but Lyra's part is a very important clue!)

/wow the more I read over this the more obvious it becomes. it's just a bit hard to grasp the concept of it though. Let me just say this: discrepancies in this story (for the most part) are intentional


	12. hide the double-edged blade

*This chapter's hard on the eyes, so I had to get rid of some of the line breaks and instead use [] *

*This is probably this chapter only, so I apologize.*

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><p><strong>xii. hide the double-edged blade<strong>

* * *

><p><em>"...Hey, Silver? I-I know I'm supposed to call you "Brother", but since Father's not here, can I call you "Silver" for once? Ah, thank you...Arceus, I hope you'll never be like those adults, huh. You know, it's no wonder why everyone prefers you; you're at least somewhat sociable, and you have many talents! Meanwhile, I'm just a stupid computer hacker and good at the arts... Everyone says you'll be a wonderful husband when you grow up; oh! That's right! How's your little crush on Kris doin- ufgh! Come on, don't punch me and then hide away! You know, she likes you to-! Ouch! Come on, I'm sure her being "lithromantic" is just a stage or something! Just try to win her over! Come on, you know, with flowers and stuff like that!<em>

_"...Yeah, then again, I am pretty sure Kris would appreciate a present of knives and guns more than chocolate and flowers...especially the guns. __No offense, Silver, but you've fallen in love with possibly the worst girl possible, given your personality. She's probably the least likely girl you'll ever be able to win the affections of._

_"W-what! O-of course I don't like her t-that way! What are you talking about!? W-well, she does like me now...h-hey, I'm not pretending to not like her just so that I can keep her! I-I'm not taking advantage of her lithromanticism or whatever it's called! S-Silver! Shut up! Arceus dangit, Silver, you're not allowed to tease me!_

_"You know what, screw you, you little idiot. O-oh, did my punch hurt!? Oh Arceus, I'm sorry, Silver! I didn't-I didn't-!_

_"You little moron, you were screwing with me, weren't you? _

_"...Love you too, Silver. Now shut up."_

[]

_"...Silver, don't you think that this technology is bad? I mean, we're the first ones to test it, so of course we don't know how bad it'll be...but...doesn't it seem horrible? I mean, just being able to store a person's data and memory and stuff like that in a little file on a database...? I mean, what if a person is bad? Wouldn't...erasing their data from the database cause them to disappear forever?_

_"...Wouldn't it be the same as keeping log and record of a person's soul? But...in a material form?_

_"And...wouldn't it be easy to delete a person, but leave their body? And wouldn't you be able to insert another person's file into that body? Isn't that something that should never happen? I-I'm a bit scared, of what'll happen, Silver..._

_"They're going to catalog everyone, aren't they?_

_"...My delete button's right there...so's yours..."_

[]

_"...Silver? I have a feeling that we're going to be gone, soon. You know how weak I am, right? I- th-they said that I'm not nearly as strong as you, and that I'm always so sick...and y__ou know how Father completely despises me? I'm worried that I'm going to die soon, because he likes you much more than he likes me. Ah! You're my precious brother, of course, so I would never hate you for that! I'm probably just a waste of space; and even more so, now that our company has developed technology so that we can all be replaced with the press of a button._ _...Yeah, all he has to do is just press "delete", and then..._

_"...How do I know I'm going to die? __...I've always known some things. I-I don't want to share the things I've seen, so I'm sorry I can't tell you..._

_"...It's horrifying. I would never want you to see them._

_"...Huh? Are** you** going to die? _

_"...Well..._

_"..._

_"...I'm afraid I can't tell you..._

_"...But__, I have this request for you:_ **_Please, let Kris kill me. If there ever is a day where I have to die, please let Kris kill me."_**

* * *

><p><em>"Hey, Kris. If there's ever a day where you think Silver's acting weird...<em>_**kill him for me. Please. At the very least, do this for me."**_

* * *

><p><strong><em>-WhICh OnE oF uS iS tHe rEaL oNE? ThAT iS yOuR cHoICe, KrIS!<em>**

* * *

><p><em>[Temporary time skip to the future.]<em>

There are two buttons right in front of her. Not those stupid, generic red buttons; but rather, mechanical keys like those on a computer, which execute an action.

Each one holds the power to determine who lives and who dies. Their fate is all in her hands. She has the ability to choose life or death.

**|She is playing "God".|**

Which one was the one who owned the body first?

Which one is the one who deserves it the most?

She doesn't know the answer to either of these. And only one of them knows, but he won't tell.

Taking those unanswered questions into account, the girl brings up her fist and smashes it into the keyboard. She lets out a sudden gasp at the one it lands on, as if something made her change her mind at the very last second. She stares almost in horror at the keyboard, face abnormally pallid, and stares in horror at her hand, almost as if her hand has betrayed her. The thump of a body hitting the floor right behind her can be heard.

There is a voice continuing to speak.

On the large computer screen above, green letters flash brightly, commanding an action with a background of binary.

She doesn't look at the screen at this moment, instead choosing to look at the body next to her, crying. The body is rather sloppily lain on the ground, and the girl hugs the body close to her as the seconds go by.

**-[PrOgRaM tErMiNaTiOn] command received.**

The girl shoves the head of the body into her arms, cradling it tightly, not letting go. If the body was conscious, surely it would hurt. The voice is dwindling, uttering soothing words as the girl tries to hold on tightly, as if that alone could save him.

**-[PrOgRaM tErMiNaTiOn] now running.**

She brings her lips down to the body's, tears dripping ungracefully onto the face, and her body shakes, racking with tears. She whimpers, and whispers over and over again the same words.

The voice has stopped, and the last word uttered: her name.

**-[PrOgRaM tErMiNaTiOn] executed.**

_"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"_

The body's eyes burst open once more, and the girl shuts her eyes tightly, bringing the boy even closer. She's full on sobbing right now, but still she continues to whisper, and the body holds her back. It isn't enough. Even though the boy is trying to comfort her, she can't stop the whimpers and pleas from coming out, and she knows she's done the right (wrong? It feels so wrong) thing.

_"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"_

* * *

><p>AN

Alright, sorry this is such a short chapter, but I'll be back with more soon!

Also, man this is such a horrible cliffhanger I'm so sorry. Ahaha, but it'll still be some time until we get to this part, so...I wanted to let you guys know that this'll be somewhat of a tragedy! /shot

Wait, is that one of the genres I put it in? I'm so sorry if I didn't put it in like that ahaha. Oh, but I think I'll make it so that the story diverges. So that you can choose (kind of?) the ending that you'll get? I guess? I'm not so sure, but I guess it's an option; I guess we'll know by the end!

I have a shit ton of homework I haven't done yet so I'll try to finish it all soon!

Also, I have to change the summary of this story; this totally doesn't match it at all anymore. But I can't think of one. Can someone help me? ;~;


	13. all deception has its purpose

**xiii. all deception has its purpose**

* * *

><p>...Her head hurts. It really, really hurts. Her mind's all scrambled, and she can't concentrate on one thing because there's a horrible buzzing in her head. Static is overriding all of her thoughts, and Kris can't even tell if she's screaming or not. Her senses aren't working, and she either can't move or there's nothing around her, because she can't even discern anything.<p>

So when she hears something other than static, she clings to it.

There's a raspy voice, shouting her name; and it hurts, to have someone's voice echoing throughout her mind, but she still tries to go towards it. It hurts, it all hurts, but there's no other choice, and at least she can actually tell something is real. The voice echoing throughout sounds familiar, and she's trying to figure out who the voice belongs to, who this person is.

And at last, as if the static clears up for a moment, there's a single name that rolls off of her tongue. And her eyes widen (at least she thinks they do) because suddenly, she's screaming the name over and over again, trying to let her voice be heard; and she can't hear herself scream, and she continues until she's hyperventilating, panting out the name between breaths as she tries to regain control of her senses.

She claws at her face, trying to get perception back at the very least, but she can't even feel the cuts that are supposed to sting, and she knows that nothing is working. Nothing. That voice is getting quieter now, and less frantic, and Kris just wants to scream at the voice to keep echoing, to never stop and by Arceus, _she's going to kill Silver if he stops now-!_

And finally, when she's given up, and the voice is pittering out and it's almost resigned, she almost feels like laughing, because Arceus, what a horrible fate for her to be left in!

So she lets out a short bark as a laugh, hands moving so that they would cover her face, and she screams his name over and over again, until suddenly-!

**_"SiLvEr!"_**

And then she can hear her own voice again, and the static's gone, and she can see again, and everything's fine-!

She almost basks in the glory that is silence, and marvels at the relief of touch, but soon, the static comes back again; this time, changing the volume and frequency so that she feels like tearing her face apart to try and get away from these noises! They're making sounds, and she can't really discern which sounds they're making, but it hurts so much that she's afraid to try! She's not in control of her breathing anymore, and she just wants it all to be over with-!

But then she hears a voice that sounds vaguely familiar, but it isn't of someone she knows.

"...**...orange...delete...exe...recov...reboo...one...red...[SoUnD].exe...ErRoReRrOrErrOR!****"**

And then every sound stops.

* * *

><p>When she wakes up, it's with a jolt so violent it flings her into someone's arms. The arms wrap around her, and all of a sudden it almost hurts, how suddenly she regains contact. Everything is so much more sensitive than it once was, and she winces as her senses suddenly come flooding in. The light hurts her eyes too much, so she closes them on instinct, but soon she forces her eyes open and she realizes that it's not as bright as they were a moment before, because now her vision is distorted with tears. She's sobbing, she notices, and her breaths are uneven, and while she's taking in all of this information, she almost misses the hand that's furiously patting her back, and the voice murmuring into her ear.<p>

She turns to look at the person holding her, slowly lifting her head, and she's bombarded by the brightest red she's ever seen; and she wants to cry, because it's Silver! It's really Silver! It's the boy she likes yet doesn't want to like her back, it's the boy who will never think of her as the most important in his life, and it's the boy who quite frankly is giving her hope yet fear that he might like her back right now-!

But then she takes a look at the eyes, and then confusion sets on her face.

This isn't Silver.

And the voice that she heard in the static wasn't Silver's either.

The boy leans back to look at her, having just noticed her taking in the sight, and the boy isn't speaking, as if he doesn't know what to say. She can feel herself trembling, her subconscious telling her to pull back, because this isn't Silver, but her body not following her orders. She's probably so frightened that she can't move, she finds herself thinking, but for some reason, this person isn't taking advantage of her, so surely he can't be the enemy, right?

She's still scared, so scared, and she wants to know who he is, yet is afraid of him suddenly doing something that might harm her, and those voices were still echoing inside her head-!

She sees his mouth move, but she doesn't hear anything at all. She can't hear anything at the moment, maybe because she's too frightened, or maybe something else, but she can't hear right now, and it's freaking her out because of the silence! Why can't she hear anything, **why, wHy cAn'T tHIs tHInG wOrK?**

The boy is talking frantically now, shaking her, and she shakes her head but even though she's trying her best, she can't hear him, and she wants to! There are tears dripping out now, and her hands are trembling and she puts her hand over her mouth as she stands up and takes a step back. The boy's mouth has stopped moving, and then his dark eyes are widening, and then he's shaking too!

So the boy quickly tears out a page from somewhere, _Kris doesn't really care_, _because oh my Arceus, why can't she hear!?_

The words on the page are hastily scribbled out, and he's holding it up, but it's hard to read because the paper's trembling from shaky hands that are holding it up. She skims over it, taking the words in, before she screams.

[_P_l_ea_se _ca_l_m_ d_ow_n_! Ar_e _y_o_u al_ri_gh_t_?_]

And she screams no, but she can't hear herself. She's never thought once that there'd be a time when she'd get to experience total silence.

* * *

><p>[...Are you alright now?]<p>

_"Yes, I am."_

The boy nods, and she feels really at peace with him. So far, she hasn't managed to ask him his name yet; yet, she has an inkling who he is. He's the one who she saw that one night; when she brushed past him, and then couldn't find him ever again. He clearly isn't bad, seeing as how he's currently taking care of her, asking her where her room was and taking her there.

...Although she was pretty sure Ethan and Green had seen her on the way here, since the latter tutored the former. Kris felt a little bad, seeing Ethan be so worried for her; yet, she didn't want anyone to know that she had lost her hearing (she doesn't have a plausible excuse), so she sticks close to the boy next to her. Ethan appears to visibly tense when she literally pulls the boy away by the hand, but Kris doesn't really have any other choice. She thinks she can see Ethan call the boy "Silver", but apparently, Ethan soon narrows his eyes in suspicion.

...She's worried that Ethan might figure something out. As soon as someone innocent figures out the workings of either the agency or the organization, all parties present must have their memories erased. It's...disconcerting, to say the least.

So the boy took her to her room. She can only imagine what rumors must've spread about "Silver" leading her to her room.

She's now lying in her bed, and she finally gathers up the courage to ask him his name. Well, she thinks she has; there's an awkward moment where she thinks he hasn't heard her or something, and she isn't exactly sure if she actually said it out loud. She's thinking about maybe repeating the question again, when he takes her hand and presses his finger against it.

He's writing his name.

And oh, it's a shock when she sees/feels the name, because oh goodness,_ these eyes really are the eyes of her partner's._

But Kamon doesn't seem to realize that she's "Crystal", or else he'd surely ask her. And, she's just a bit flustered right now, because...well...he's very pretty. Much more pretty than she ever thought he'd be. He looks almost exactly like Silver, except that his hair is tied up in a small ponytail and his eyes are black instead of red, but honestly, she would swoon over him in private if she was in the right state of mind. She's...well...obviously attracted to him.

...She has this thought in her head that Silver might be Kamon's long-lost brother, and vice-versa. She doesn't really want to ask Kamon, though, because well, he'd figure out that it was her, but Kamon sounded terribly sad that night when he said that he couldn't remember his brother. Kris isn't really that sure about Silver, because she's really not that close to him despite being his girlfriend, but she's sure at least he would want some closure.

So, Kris has a thought.

She leans close to Kamon (he's really warm, albeit skinny; well, of course if she leans in, she'd want to feel him a bit. She's still a normal girl...), and decides to say what she thinks slowly and carefully.

_"...Are you Silver's brother? Er, you look really alike. He's mentioned you many times, and the name matches. Er, if you were, and if I didn't get this wrong...would you like to meet him?"_

(It really surprises her when his eyes widen and he shakes his head yes, though. Kamon really is cute, she thinks. Although, she can't help but have a feeling that she's kind of cheating on Silver when she thinks this. She shakes the thought out of her head, because she knows that Silver wouldn't really care, because he doesn't like her. Well, she has known Kamon far longer than she's known Silver. It still makes her kind of sad that Silver doesn't even bother hiding his distaste for her, always sticking around her and insulting her for her strangeness. But...Kamon's really different from how she's always imagined him to be.)

(...He sings well, too, that she can remember. She asks him to sing her a lullaby, even though she can't hear it right now. He agrees, and sings her a lullaby or something like that that _probably isn't normally sung to soothe people even if he was doing his job, so she's flustered because is he trying to win her over or something, because she's sure he smirked or something at her and she was pretty sure that kind of smirk wasn't the average smirk? And oh goodness, she's acting like she's some weird girl obsessed with a pop star or something with the way she's thinking, dear Arceus, kill her now-)_

_(Oh god, he just kissed the back of her hand or something that she would normally kill someone else for doing, and he's running his hands through her hair, and it feels so nice that she just falls asleep...)_

_(She isn't sure what time he leaves.)_

* * *

><p><strong><em>...<em>[SwItCH] running...**

* * *

><p>He's worried about her. He really is. When Ethan knocks on his door, yelling for Silver to "wake the fuck up, asshole", he knows that something's seriously wrong. Ethan's face is strained, when Silver opens his door; and when he finally tells Silver what's been going on, Silver can barely handle all of the information. So Silver slaps him, to get him to calm down; he's talking too fast.<p>

"Silver, you asshole, Kris is in danger!"

...And already, Silver's already in attentive mode.

He's worried about her, he really is; but he can assure anyone that he's not in love with Kris. Er, it's still just a suspicion, but he's never really gotten with the throes of love, and just has pretended to be in love with Lyra (god, her father still intimidated him). He might possibly be aromantic. He's hoping that's not it, though, because he thinks that maybe Kris could be someone he'd love.

He may not be able to fall in love, but with of her morbid strangeness, he's still fond of her, and would definitely worry even if Ethan hadn't brought himself into it. And the more he's listening to Ethan, the more he's panicking. He's fiddling with the watch the organization gave him, which would normally alert him if there were any other organization members around him; there's no small light flickering, and it makes him furrow his eyebrows. So, if Kris is in danger, it's definitely not by the organization.

He isn't sure that's a comforting thought. At least if the enemy was from the organization, he'd know their tactics. He listened to Ethan's explanation of the situation.

1. Kris apparently was led to her room, by a boy who looked almost exactly like him, yet was not him.

2. When Ethan knocked on Kris's door, no one opened it; it was as if there wasn't a being inside that could respond.

...3. Kris looked dazed and unresponsive when Ethan saw her, not being able to respond to anything Ethan or Green had asked.

...

...Oh Arceus, what if she's already hurt?

And he's already out of the door, not even heeding Ethan's cry of alarm at the swiftness of his actions. In fact, Silver is so swift with his actions, his mind hasn't even caught up yet, and he doesn't remember to ask Ethan one thing. Ethan's following him about thirty paces behind, when Ethan notices that he's stopped at Kris's door. Silver's banging rather loudly on the door, but as soon as that is found to not work, he pulls out a room key, and inserts it in. Ethan is suddenly hit by one detail that's strange.

You see, this one thing is a somewhat important detail that Silver's overlooked, and that Ethan's noticed immediately.

Silver's never been invited to Kris's room, nor has she ever told him the number; so why, then, does he have a key, and know her room number?

...Ethan decides that he'll stay hidden and follow Silver, for perhaps the rest of the week, because there's something strange about this all.

* * *

><p>AN

...Let me tell you, I think there's going to be like five different endings, god.

Ahahaa man this work is a piece of crap

Also let me tell you I can't write romantic at all and that I probably should've included aromantic!Silver somewhat earlier. Crap.

But Ethan's actually going to be important. Somewhat.

...Ahaha, somehow.


	14. but this is our battlefield

*This one's really long. And contains a couple of cusses. There's more than thirteen pages here...and I wrote it all today so I'm tired as hell*

* * *

><p><strong>xiv. but this is our battlefield<strong>

* * *

><p>He didn't care if he tore the door down; Silver loudly banged open the door after unlocking it with the key, eyes frantic with worry. Even he cringed when the door made the loudest noise he had ever heard when it slammed against the wall. However, to his relief, there Kris was: safe in her bed, unmoving. Normally, this wouldn't frighten Silver at all; however, with the loud noise he was sure Ethan had made with knocking on the door, and his very own tremendous slam, he was pretty sure that if she was alright, she would've woken up. Even if she was a deep sleeper, she couldn't possibly sleep through noise as loud as that, right?<p>

He closed the door behind him.

...So he walked slowly towards her bed, wary in his actions, because what if that person who looked like him was still here, watching him? They would definitely have some motive, so if the real him actually appeared, it would definitely ruin their plans. He walked slowly, scanning the room for any people, not sure if anyone was here. However, it seemed as if there was no one there; which left him utterly confused. What plans did the lookalike have? Surely if he was targeting anyone other than Kris, he wouldn't have dressed to look like Silver.

This left him a bit worried, however. Of all the people to bring in, why bring in possibly the most dangerous one? Kris obviously had training of some sort, to be in the agency, so why try to lure her? For info? But why would someone not in the organization want info on her? And...why would they know her? She wasn't important in the agency, if she only had one partner when patrolling...

...That's right. He's never even seen her partner before. Even that one time where he had captured her, he suddenly found himself standing right next to her, that strange ribbon in his hand. He had dropped the ribbon, of course, but even he found it highly illogical for her partner to be able to run away that fast.

He's now standing right next to the bed, looking at Kris. She wears a nightgown to bed, silk, he notices, and she sleeps in an awkward position. She must be the restless sort, because she's managed to kick her leg out to rest over the blanket she's pushed to the side, and her nightgown is hitched up, exposing her undergarments. If it was any other time, he'd look away immediately and apologize, but it's a kind of urgent time, he thinks, even though there's still an awkward blush on his face.

He notices her face.

The way she's sleeping is...definitely something out of a horror movie. He can't tell if this is how she normally sleeps or something, but either way, it's scaring the crap out of him. Her eyes aren't closed fully, exposing the milky whiteness of her eyeballs; it appears as if it's half open, and her eyes are rolled up, and seriously, it's creeping the hell out of him. Her hair's covering most of her face because she's sleeping on her side, her mouth is open and there's a tiny bit of drool, and it's seriously something out of a horrible horror game or story because oh god, she looks ghoulish like this.

...He thinks it might be a tiny bit endearing how sloppy she is, if this is how she sleeps normally, even though he's a neat freak. Of course, if they were to be together in the future, he would have to get used to that, but he's sure that he'll be fine. Looking around her room, he notices a calendar right above his bed, with last month's calendar sheet not ripped off yet. He notices a small red circle and a small black circle around Christmas Day. It's marked with the words "Silver's birthday".

...It's a bit cute. He kind of likes cute things. Her actions are actually kind of cute, albeit somewhat terrifying. He wouldn't really have it any other way.

Either way, he has to wake her up. It's just that he's not sure if when she wakes up, she'll be normal or if she'll be possessed, what with the way she sleeps. He tentatively whispers her name, even though he knows that she's probably a deep sleeper what with this position of sleep.

"..._Kris."_

Well, she doesn't move. What did he expect? So he calls it again, this time calling a bit louder. Ethan's probably headed back to his own room right now, Silver thinks, and Silver's kind of apologetic that he's forgotten Ethan. But Kris is important. Even though the whole reason he started dating Kris was to get a rise out of Ethan. He notices that he doesn't really feel bad that Ethan's not present at the moment.

"..Kris."

No response again.

This time, he supposes he might as well shout.

"Kris!"

But she doesn't even stir.

He's getting worried now, and he's kind of repeating her name over and over again; at first, her name was repeated rather slowly, but then soon, he started stringing her name together as he got increasingly worried. He's now actually kneeling on her bed, trying to shake her awake because why isn't she responding?

And then when she does wake up, a bit annoyed, he immediately drops her. She's glaring at him now, and Silver's a bit concerned that she's going to yell at him or something, but then she goes and hugs him, and then he's really confused. She's still extremely drowsy right now, he can tell, and her eyelids are closing again as she holds onto him. She's falling asleep again, and he really wants to make sure she's alright, but he isn't sure how to keep her awake. He decides to lift her up and shake her.

She's still half asleep. She's mainly babbling incoherent things right now, but she talks slow enough so he can recognize the words.

"...Kamon, why...did you wake me up...? ...Just let me sleep, okay? ...You know I can't hear you so...you'll have...to...write on the hand that...you kissed...again, you know...come on, let me sleeeeeeeeeep...is there something important...?"

She's cracked an eye open and she's kind of wobbling right now, but it takes her about five seconds to snap awake, and then she jumps away from him. She's staring at him wide-eyed, and Silver's really confused right now, because who the hell is "Kamon", and why did he kiss her, and why did she mistake Silver for this Kamon-

"H-huh?"

He doesn't shake the questions off, and he asks her them directly.

"Who's Kamon?"

But she's looking confusedly at him, as if Silver's the one she doesn't know, and now he's pinning her down because what's wrong with her, before she speaks. It's a quiet voice, as if she's unsure what she's saying and if she's saying it, and he almost has to strain to hear. There's definitely something wrong, because Kris isn't quiet, and she should be fighting back because that's who she is, not this meek girl who's confused about everything.

"S-Silver?"

"Yes!?"

He cringes, because he doesn't mean to shout it out and that was loud in his own ears, but Kris doesn't appear to have heard. In fact, she's kind of staring in mute horror, and he knows that something really is wrong.

"What's wrong, Kris?"

His eyes are probably really wide now with confusion, but he doesn't care, because her eyes are wide too, and she's bringing her hands up to her ears, and then looking at those hands again. Then, her body starts trembling, and he needs to ask what's wrong, and what's happening. Then, she almost collapses on the bed, and starts screaming. There's a look of recognition on her face, and then she starts flailing.

"**H-hELp! HeLp! "**

And she's thrashing about, trying to grab at her ears with her hands; but she's starting to damage them with the ferocity that she's clawing at them with, and Silver is now holding her arms and hands down because she's going to cause serious damage if she continues. She's still panting heavily, and Silver's genuinely concerned because why is she doing this? Why is she clawing at her ears?

"Kris! What's wrong!?"

But she's looking at him, staring at his lips, and then soon, he hears a feeble voice.

"W-what did you just say?"

He almost can't register it, because why would she ask him a question like that, and why is she staring at his lips instead of looking into his eyes? And he's mulling over the possible reasons, when all of a sudden, everything falls into place. Why she didn't respond to Ethan and Green, why when Ethan asked her something she didn't respond, and why she didn't open the door when both Ethan and Silver caused such loud racket.

And then he almost lets go of her arms with his realization. Kris can't hear anymore. He then stares at her for a long time, and she stares back, and he's sure both of them are confused. Then he hugs her, mainly to keep her arms in place, but it also hides his confused and anxious face from her. He grit his teeth, and held her closer. If the agency found him out, and was trying to shut her down as a warning, then there was no use in hiding his status from her. It didn't even matter if she didn't realize; he would tell her his position, and ask her any necessary questions to reveal the situation.

And if it really was their fault...

...

...Then he would have to do a reboot. It was certainly doable, with his position. The only problem was whether or not she would trust him enough. The agency had fed her completely different facts about the essentials, and he wasn't sure if she'd trust him enough to completely believe him. That would be worrying, if she didn't believe what he said.

* * *

><p>...When she finally calms down, Silver is adamant about holding both of her hands to keep her from clawing at her ears. Kris is sure that she wouldn't do that again, because now she's starting to feel the pain that she's already caused with her hands. She tries hard to keep from cringing, and Silver has stayed with her the whole time, not looking at her.<p>

She isn't sure why she couldn't hear either. At first, when she was drowsy, she didn't even remember that she couldn't hear anymore. Her mind was muddled; although she isn't sure why when Kamon was here, she managed to find peace. With Silver, she immediately remembered and started panicking again. She isn't sure how she's supposed to tell Silver about her sudden hearing loss; what possible reason could she have, to suddenly lose it and start freaking out.

She realizes that he's let go of her hands now. He looks at her for a couple of seconds, as if gauging whether or not she'll lose it again if he were to let her hands free, but she nods her head in reassurance that she won't freak out at this moment. He seems wary, and doesn't take his eyes off of her while he's rummaging through her room. She almost asks him what he's searching for, except she knows she wouldn't be able to understand what he says anyway.

...He finds a sheet of paper, and writes on it.

[Are you okay, now?]

She nods.

[Can you hear?]

She shakes her head no. She's hoping that he won't ask her why she suddenly lost her hearing, because she has no excuse. She had no injuries, so an accident couldn't be used as an excuse. Playing with the hem of her nightgown, Kris doesn't try to meet his eyes, and is now staring at the paper. Then, Silver starts writing again. Oh Arceus, he's going to ask that question, isn't he?

...

...

And then she's staring, horrified at what she sees written down, and then she doesn't know what to do with him. It wasn't the question she expected, but it's far worse. There's panic overriding her senses, and she's not sure how to answer. Should she answer with the truth? She didn't even know herself, although now that she thought about it, maybe what he wrote was true. It was weird, how she had suddenly passed out and heard static and voices, and maybe, oh god, maybe they really did try to erase her but just failed-!

[Did the agency do this to your programming?]

* * *

><p>Oh god, what should she say?<p>

[Do not panic. None of our memories are going to be erased for this. I'm not an innocent. And I can make sure that they won't erase your memory.]

Silver's...not an innocent? She's seriously confused right now, because how would Silver know what an innocent is, and how can he make sure that her memory isn't erased? Kris is hoping that the confusion and anxiety she's feeling isn't showing up on her face, especially not in front of him; she isn't sure if she can trust him or not, even though he doesn't seem to focus on hurting her.

He's noticed her panicking, and he's glaring at her. She quirks her mouth a little in awkwardness, and he continues grimacing, writing in a much neater handwriting than hers.

[Please don't panic. You're seriously panicking right now. Stop panicking and listen-er, read- this.]

Er...she's not really sure if she can trust him, and she's not sure what he's going to write. If he's not an innocent, he could be the enemy or something like that, and she really is scared what'll happen as soon as he reveals whatever he's going to write.

[Alright, you're going to be scared of me aren't you? Crap. I don't want you to be scared of me. Trust me when I say that I hate that you've been dragged into this. I think they're probably targeting me, and that's why you lost your hearing.]

Huh?

[I'm going to write down everything I think is important rather briefly, so please ask me questions after the whole thing.]

[I'm second-in-command of this section of the organization; please don't kill me immediately, even though I'm the enemy. I would appreciate it if you didn't. As I said, since I hold such a position, I oversee the development and regulation of humans and their memory banks. My father had developed the technology that allowed memories to be erased, and cataloged all survivors of the war before the Escalation in the databases. This is why I control this important aspect.]

[According to the reports, apparently the memory banks of almost everyone were altered to believe that the Escalation was a time of despair, one that killed off most everyone. The remaining people had memory banks that were easily erasable, and since there were so few people left, they could use the coding to rewire those same people over and over again; basically, thousands of people living their lives over and over again, if this were to go on. However, the Escalation was not an event. That is wrong. The Escalation wasn't an event.]

[The Escalation was a virus invented by the leaders of the agency to prevent the cataloging of humans; they thought it inhumane, and wrong, to be able to catalog an entire human being and recode them, so they coded a virus. The virus was coded by an extremely intelligent hacker who somehow had access to the memory files; however, the hacker hadn't released the virus for fear of what may happen. However, the leaders of the agency didn't understand the databases fully, and released it; once the virus attacked the coding, it killed the humans which were of the records it had destroyed. The virus was indestructible; the hacker was a talented one. The millions of people left surviving after the war were now cut down to a mere couple thousand. The virus also changed the memory banks of most everyone here.]

[The organization was started by my ex-fiancee's father; however, now I serve as her bodyguard, although she's more than capable of protecting herself. However, my ex-fiancee's memories were taken and replaced, and I serve as her bodyguard discretely. Since you're my girlfriend, I figure I should tell you that I am not in love with her and am devoted to you.]

Oh god, she's blushing and frowning. Of all the things to concentrate on, why the hell did she choose that? He doesn't even like her back, she's scolded herself many times already, and that thinking that he does will only lead you to further depths. And she...hadn't exactly been completely focused on liking him this whole entire month; at night, when she patrolled, she always...well...flirted with Kamon. She couldn't deny that there was just something that pulled her to him, and she always felt extremely guilty after; and why should she feel guilty if Silver doesn't even like her back?

...Sometimes, she wonders why her determination is so weak. She should've stopped her feelings for him a long time ago. She just hadn't expected that he'd actually...agree to her proposition. But...there was just something about Kamon that made her feel at ease. Sure, he wasn't romantic or anything at all, and she didn't get the butterflies and silly stuff like that around him; but there was undeniably something there. And she should stop herself from thinking this, but truthfully, she doesn't really want to, because why should Silver be able to pine after Lyra and not Kris with Kamon?

He's still writing.

[...Since I have control of the files and programs of yours, I have the ability to change your programming; I just need to check your watch, if you'd let me. The watches the agency has are identical to the ones of the organization's, due to the fact that having complete control over your programs make it easy to spot traitors. I could possibly recover your hearing, if the program was the one which malfunctioned; therefore, I need to make sure that the equipment the program runs on (your ears), is safe from harm. The program cannot run on faulty equipment.]

[Also, I found out about your status as an agent of the agency about a month before; er, I had to erase your memory at the time, but from then on, you've genuinely intrigued me. I haven't been tracking you, because it would be an intrusion of your personal space. I sometimes do check up on you to make sure that you're not harmed, but I don't keep track of you.]

Well, that's...both endearing and creepy at the same time. Hm. But then again, who was she to talk? Hell, she was the one who didn't remember anything about the past. But what the agency had told her...differed from Silver's account completely. She wasn't sure if she could trust Silver...but...

...She was supposed to be infatuated with him, wasn't she? It was hard, to like him, knowing that he'd never like her back. Sure, being lithromantic is one thing; yes, she would be very pleased if he didn't like her, but this...this...this was just setting herself up with heartbreak. Just because she was lithromantic, didn't mean that she couldn't imagine what it would be like for him to like her back. In fact, this...was probably against everything. It may not show, but she hated how he never liked her, yet was just dragging her along for his amusement.

She...she hadn't returned any of his recent advances because she didn't feel it anymore. She didn't want to be in a relationship with him anymore. There was too much guilt that happened when she was attracted to someone else, and there wasn't anything at all to back it up. It was...just painful. Especially when Silver wouldn't tell her anything. They weren't even friends, with the way this was turning out. And it really hurt. It really did.

And...being lithromantic didn't mean that she couldn't feel sad. She didn't want to think about this, any more.

He kept on writing.

[...I apologize if this is sudden, but I do wish for you to recover your hearing back; it's not safe, not being able to hear.]

...Maybe she could trust him, and give it a try. Everything's finally caught up with her, and the full weight of everything has hit her now. He's only here because he feels obligated to. So, since she's obligated to believe him, she might as well do so. She kind of hates how everything is logical in her mind, and how she can't just punch him and throw him out of the room right now.

[...Do you want to kill me right now? Because while I'm sure that it's what the agency taught you, to kill the enemy, I wouldn't exactly appreciate it.]

_"No."_

[That's good then.]

_"Wow, you write really formally, y'know. I can see how you're second-in-command, with how proper you are."_

[...I'm not going to dignify that with a response, seeing as I cannot tell from your tone of voice whether or not it should be taken as a compliment.]

But then Kris has a thought. And she knows it's a bad time to be thinking about Kamon, but she doesn't want Silver to call her his girlfriend anymore, because it frustrates her. Yes, she might be the one who started it; but he's the one who continued it, and he's equally at blame! It's a bad way to think, she knows, but it's the only way that _feels right_ right now, and she's having a hard time just accepting it all. She just wants it all to end!

_"What about my partner then? Have you seen him?"_

If he has, then maybe he and Kamon could just meet without her.

[I have not met your partner; it's a strange coincidence, but it appears to be that every time I made sure to check to up on you, I couldn't see him. Is there any reason why I need to meet your partner?]

_"..Er..."_

[...Is your partner the one who brought you to your room? The one that...looked like me?]

_"Huh? Y-yeah! Did you see him?"_

[Ethan was extremely concerned for you, and had suspected that he had done something to you. Was it he who did this to you, or no? Also, when exactly did you lose your hearing? Was it when you...passed out? I had to leave immediately, then, for fear of being found out, so I'm sorry that I couldn't help you...]

Ah. Ethan. Ethan...well...there's not really anything about the kid that she really likes. Sure, he's amicable; but he doesn't have any of the things that led Kris to gravitate towards Silver or Kamon. Ethan...was...just Ethan. He didn't have a special adjective or placement in her mind. But Kris felt annoyed when she heard that Silver had left her behind. Even when she was in a highly dangerous status, he left her behind. Oh, she could just tell how much he cared for her.

_"..Uh, well, I was unconscious, and then he found me. His...his name's Kamon."_

For some reason, Kris sees Silver stiffen up. His eyebrows are furrowed and he's kind of glaring, and he's staring at her hands, but other than that, he looks away. She doesn't know why, but she likes seeing him squirm. It's when he's annoyed that she gets the most pleasure out of his company now, and it's almost as if she never even had feelings for him, how much she likes seeing him being hurt. Oh, not physically hurt; emotionally hurt is so much better, she thinks. Hah.

But when he looks at her, and it's not annoyance but _embarrassment _on his face, she wants to look away because it actually physically hurts her. How dare he act embarrassed, when it's all his fault?_  
><em>

But still, she continues.

_"...He has a long-lost twin brother that he's been looking for. And...well..."_

She trails off, looking at Silver to see what his reaction is. He's not even annoyed at her or anything, and that makes her angry. She just wants to see him explode. She wants to see Silver hurt like she does. He's even deeper in thought, looking at her and trying to figure something out, before his eyes widen.

[Wait. A twin brother?]

_"Yes."_

[And you think...I'm his twin? That is the reason why you're telling me this, is it not?]

No, she's telling you because she thinks you're his f**king aunt, bastard.

_"...Yes."_

[...So he's in the agency.]

_"Yeah. I suggested...to have the two of you meet. Would...that be okay?"_

And please, leave her out of it. She doesn't want to spend any more time with Silver, at least not until she calms down. She has a feeling she won't calm down soon, though.

[...I...I don't really know. I...I haven't seen him in such a long time, and we didn't leave off on the best of terms, if my memory files haven't been altered.]

_"And if they have?"_

[...Then I'm not so sure that I would want to see him either way.]

_"..."_

[I...I would need more time to prepare, if I were to see him. It's not something that you can just bring up that soon, you know? When did you tell him to meet me? You are going to come along, right?]

He's now coerced her into going along. Great.

_"...I...I haven't asked him yet...either. Er...I think it...might be best...if you accompany us on t-the patrols...or something like that? No one...else patrols the area... because Kamon's extremely skilled...and if all else fails...he knows the area...so...you wouldn't have to worry about escaping... What do you say?"_

[...I think...I would like to.]

_"...That's great!"_

She has a feeling she shouted out way too loud, because next to her, Silver is cringing and is shaking his head a bit, but she's actually really happy; not for Silver, of course, but for Kamon. And sure, while she's tremendously pissed off because she has to come, she can't help but admit she's happy for Kamon. Kamon probably holds the only soft spot in her heart, because he's just so perfect that she can't help but pity him and just want to coddle him, but because his being happy would make her a lot happier too.

[...You seem awfully happy about this.]

Silver's looking at her with those annoying eyes again, and Kris just wants to hurt him and sure, she's insane, but she doesn't really care, if it'll get her away from him.

_"...Well...that's because I really care for Kamon!"_

Again, another wince. There's a little bit of hurt in eyes; Kris isn't really sure if it's because she's talking loud or something else, but it makes her elated that she can hurt him. Sure, she won't ever hurt him that much physically (no matter how much she may want to), but if it's emotionally or just annoying him, she's more than fine with it.

...She may hope that it's because she said "Kamon" and not "you and Kamon", but she knows that it's not a chance at all. And oh, she hates how she can't stop liking him even though she's been through all of this pain, and she almost can't handle it anymore!

[...Thanks.]

She smiles (probably really fake-looking, she inwardly grimaces) at him, and then he smiles.

[...It's still evening, so you don't have to report to your duties yet. So...you should rest. And then you can...tell...Kamon that I'll be willing to meet him. So...rest well, okay? Do you want me to wake you up? Or do you want Ethan to? He knows that you leave every night, so he could probably help as well. I mean, your alarm obviously isn't going to help anymore...]

_"...I think I'll just call a Pokemon to help me."_

[...Oh, that's right. They...experimented on the Pokemon from before for perhaps a perfect genetic sequence, and that's why there aren't any Pokemon left in the wilderness. I suppose you may possibly have some of the last in this region, although I'm afraid that your Pokemon probably aren't able to use moves anymore due to the altering of coding, am I right?]

_"Yeah."_

[...I'm sorry, for all the trouble we've caused you. I wouldn't hold it against you to hate me, you know. You could've very well had a wonderful life before this, but you wouldn't even remember because I erased your memory about four years ago. I had to erase everyone's memories.]

_"...Let me tell you, you are possibly the worst boyfriend ever. Who...the hell tells their girlfriend to hate them?"_

[...Like you're the perfect girlfriend?]

_"...Go before I punch you in the face."_

[The epitome of love, you are.]

_"It's not like you're in love with me."_

[...]

Crap, that may have been the wrong thing to say. Cross that out, it was the wrong thing to say. Why the hell would she ever do something as stupid as that? Arceus, she could die right now and it'd be better than facing this.

[...]

[...I...I care for you. I really do. You're possibly the person I'm most likely to fall in love with, if I were to ever fall in love.]

_"...Are you aromantic?"_

This is just her looking for an excuse, a reason why Silver doesn't like her. And she isn't sure if she'd like it better if he was or wasn't.

[...]

[...]

[...I kind of hope not. Because I've been taught that there's love for everyone, and even though I may not care especially for it, there's still this mindset that's been in me ever since I was a child. Although I find it kind of repulsive when people like me. But...I guess if it's you, I could tolerate it.]

[...And you?]

She might as well tell the truth; it's not as if he'd ever like her anyway. And sure, while this may be a crappy note to end with, she's just kind of tired with Silver. Just a tiny bit. Sure, he may be the boy she likes, but...she's still...well...she's still sad. And a bit angry. There's this stupid voice inside her head saying Kamon could've probably treated her better, if he was her boyfriend, instead of Silver. It's almost as if she could've been in love with Kamon, from the way she was feeling now. Sure, while she felt fluttery and (disgustingly) giggly around Silver, masking it with violence and the like, she's always been...extremely comfortable with Kamon. As if he was the one who could stabilize her.

It's really strange, but for some reason, she can't shake off the feeling that something like this has happened before. It may not be her memories, but all of a sudden, she can tell that she used to know Kamon. It's really strange, because obviously she doesn't have her memories so this whole recalling this is stupid and false, but for some reason, she can remember a little boy telling her that he couldn't love her. She can remember two, in fact.

And suddenly, there's a trickling of some memories floating in; they're all kind of blurry and fuzzy, but she can tell what those memories are reminding her of.

And...it's always an easier way to stop infatuation if you just say what you feel. So, she decides to be stupid and to tell him how she's been disappointed, and how she's slowly losing her infatuation with him.

_"...Eh? ...To tell the truth? You've devastated me. But we're going to break up some day soon, I can tell, and then you can go chase Lyra instead of pretending that you're not in love with her, and I can go pine away by myself, and you're going to be happy. I can tell. You know, I don't think I am...lithromantic. I think that I've just deluded myself into believing it, because how else would I cope with all of this? But...I...think I know what's best."_

Oh Arceus, she's going too far, and she knows it, but she can't stop herself right now! And she's crying, and Silver's just looking sorry and pitiful, and Kris just wants to throw him out of the room so she can lament and reflect on her memories, so Kris just hates this all because he's still here!

_"...Here. Let's break up. How about it?"_

* * *

><p><em>"Hey, Kamon, you know how both you and Silver rejected me before, right?"<em>

_"Yeah, Kris."_

_"...I don't know why, but I hate the pain."_

_"...Isn't that supposed to be normal, Kris? Arceus, we're all so young, so it'd be normal to hate pain."_

_"W-well, yes, but...I'm lithromantic..."_

_"...Tell me one reason why lithromantic people can't feel pain."_

_"W-well, we're supposed to have a preference of not being with the other person, right?"_

_"...How do I know more about this than you do? Ugh, let me explain. You do prefer not being with someone. It doesn't mean that you have to enjoy it. It means that you would take not being with someone over being with someone any day. It doesn't mean that you have to enjoy it, it just means that you have to enjoy it more than being with someone. Besides, you dream about what it's like to have an actual romance with him, right?"_

_"U-uh-"_

_"Then of course if your dreams are shattered, you'll be hurt."_

_"..."_

_"What?"_

_"...That's not all I want to say..."_

_"Then say it, Kris. I'm just a hacker, not a psychic."_

_"...I...kind of like being heartbroken. Sure, I don't like being rejected and stuff, but...there's just something about being heartbroken that makes me feel pathetic. I...hate it though. I really do hate it. B-but I don't feel like I deserve to love and stuff like that, so I guess that being heartbroken is like a punishment or something... And sometimes I just want to sit down and cry because this is all so stupid, and of course I'm the only person here who feels this goddamn way and I just want to die and all of that-oomph!"_

_"Listen here, and stop struggling. I don't have my hand over your mouth for a reason. I won't pamper you. I won't let you break my heart when you want to, and have you crawling back to me when you don't. That definitely won't be my plan. But...I can take care of you. I'll comfort you when you feel bad, and bring you down when you feel good. I'll keep you stable, and...you'll keep me crazy. Is that alright?"_

_"...Mmph."_

_"Can I take my hand off now? No more spouting your suicidal tendencies, alright? I've already stopped you once, and if you do it again, I won't do anything to help stabilize you, because you and I both know that the second time means that you don't want to be saved."_

_"...Yeah."_

_"Good. Now come over here, and let me cuddle you. You're seriously down right now, and I'm going to make you so damn happy I'll have to take away all of your guns in order to make you sad."_

_"...Yeah."_

_"...Also, you're seriously uncomfortable. Your hair's going up my nose when I breathe. I hope all the dandruff on your head is gone."_

_"...I hope you die."_

_"Painfully?"_

_"...As much pain as you bring me."_

* * *

><p>[...No. I don't care what the hell you're saying. The chemical imbalance in your body is a result of the program failing to regulate body controls, and right now you're thinking irrationally.]<p>

_"And what if I really want to break up? What if I say I don't love you? What if I say I don't like you anymore?"_

[I-I'll...I'll stay with you, even if you say you don't love me. Hell, just stop being so damn irrational at this moment, and then we'll see where we are from here. Okay? Can we at least be friends at this moment in time?]

_"No."_

[...You know what, screw this, I am going to drag you to get rebooted no matter what.]

_"Are you in love with me? You seem to be doing an awful lot for someone you don't love."_

[...If I say I love you, will you let me stay by your side?]

_"...It's a yes or no."_

[You're doing this to try and push me away, aren't you?]

_"Yes."_

[...Fine. I love you. Happy?]

_"Hell no."_

[I swear my whole undying fucking love and devotion shit, so will you continue being my girlfriend?]

_"...Can I think about it?"_

[...Is there someone else? Or can you really not decide?]

_"...Both, I guess. Still want to stay with me?"_

[I'm not fucking giving up now.]

_"...You're just trying to contradict whatever I say now, aren't you?"_

[And aren't you the same?]

_"...You know, normally this is the worst way to charm a girl. No girl wants someone to treat them like this."_

[Yeah, well, you want this, don't you? No, correction; you **need** someone like this. Or else you're just going to sulk in a corner for the rest of your goddamn life, aren't you?]

_"...You remind me of someone I used to know."_

[?]

_"...Nothing. I think I've been regaining my memories."_

[...Quite the topic changer, are you?]

_"Quite the lady charmer, are you, fucktard?"_

[Yeah, yeah, now go to bed now, jackass. Or else you are going to be too tired for your goddamn work for the enemy.]

* * *

><p>AN

I'm kind of rushing both of my stories, ahaha...

So, since I'm going to be rushing, I guess I'll explain some things.

Kris is starting to regain some memories of her childhood, but because the characters are Silver and Kamon, she's not sure if they're memories or dreams. Silver...is not "in love" with Kris, but is forced to choose between one and the other in Kris's attempt to get him away from her. Silver and Kamon are somewhat similar, and the reason is kind of obvious. Duh. But Silver's gradually falling in love with her, and she's slowly falling out. Or at least, the kind of love for her will be different. Yeah. Silver's the kind of guy a girl falls deeply in love with, but Kamon's the one that'll bring a girl happiness; at least that's kind of what I was going for, although the reason why their personalities are so similar in some regards is probably going to be revealed? I guess? And Silver and Kamon (the former noticing in the present and the latter noticed in the past) kind of understand what Kris needs in a relationship, and what she kind of desires. And sure, while she may not say it, she just wants a stable relationship. So yeah.

Ethan's...importance is probably only going to be revealed in one of the possible (bad?) endings. There will be multiple endings, many of which are bad.

Also, this thing is really fucking long.


	15. there are two traitors on this warfield

She's never seen Silver go over the school barrier to go to the outside world. It's kind of strange how nimble and agile he is, fingers digging into the bark of the tree closest to the dorms, hiding in the cover of leaves.

In fact, now that she actually tries to remember, she hasn't seen him do much at all. Never has she ever noticed his quirks, known how he acts, or even asked him how his day was.

The thought's a bit disconcerting, not knowing anything about him, even though she knew from the start that she wasn't in love with him. (In fact, she could remember clearly thinking that it was just an infatuation, and nothing more.)

Even so, seeing him climb up one of the last trees in existence and jumping over the barrier adeptly made her feel weird. There really was a lot about Silver that she didn't know. She supposes she doesn't really have the right to tell Silver what she thinks his opinion is if she doesn't really know him well. But she would rather not apologize; it's too much of a hassle, and it'd be a further blow to her ego. She doesn't need to apologize to him if she wanted to retain what little pride she had left. It'd be better to let others think you have no regrets. It may make them angry, but at least they won't pity you.

He's waiting for her on the other side, so she quickly puts on her roller skates.

It's strange, but today, Ethan's not on patrol. Her brows furrow a bit, as she questions where the boy is, but she can't waste too much time right now.

Kamon and Silver still have to meet, and Silver's still dragging her to alter her files. Of course, why Silver's so adamant on doing both on the same day is kind of strange, but it figures that maybe to avoid awkwardness, he'd try to use it as an excuse to leave. She doesn't really know anything, and it kind of makes her a bit angry, but it's all because she's too big-headed to try and correct herself.

So when she goes on ahead of Silver, dragging her heels in the ground to slow down her roller skates, and she sees nothing, she's a bit scared.

Kamon's supposed to be here; he's always been here, and he's never once been late to their late-night routines.

She can hear a small shuffle in the area, but when she turns around to see who it is, and doesn't see Kamon, her thoughts head towards the most pessimistic thoughts. For instance, Kamon could've been captured. He could've been delirious by himself out here, and someone might've seen it fit to finish him off. It makes her very worried for her partner, because he'd always been of a delicate constitution, that he said.

...When fifteen minutes pass and there's no other pair of roller skates gradually making their presence known, Kris is extremely worried. Sure, it might seem like paranoia; Kamon's strong, albeit a bit sickly, and should be fine. But hysteria is making her mind blurry, because oh god, that's the reason why they were never to go alone, that their minds would go haywire from introduction of despair. What if Kamon's out there somewhere, hallucinating and perhaps maybe being tortured in his own mind-!

But her wristwatch's beeping frantically too, so as she tries to turn around and force Silver to go and let her search for Kamon, he shakes his head sternly, and drags her away.

"You're not in any condition to be searching for him. We have to go get you stabilized first. Then we can search for...my, um, brother."

She's obviously not pleased with the idea, but the fact that she can barely hear anything except for her own heart's frantic beating renders her useless, and so Silver blindfolds her.

* * *

><p>When they arrive, Silver's wristwatch sends out a large beeping, and Kris can't even react before she is shoved into a small area of some kind, trying to scream with her muted voice because what was happening- but then she quiets down when she hears Silver talk, as if he is negotiating. It's a dark compartment, that she can tell from even under her blindfold, and she debates between trusting Silver and not breaking free, or trying to navigate her way out without being seen.<p>

"Second-in-command! We've detected two foreign presences in the building!"

The second must be Kamon, Kris determines, and she quickly focuses on their words again; they're talking a bit quietly, so she has to lean into the hard surface of whatever she's against. Her shoulders awkwardly jut out behind her as she struggles to try and hear them, not caring about whether or not she's comfortable, although the discomfort certainly doesn't help her hearing ability.

"Sir, do we need to send out our agents to find them?"

She cannot hear his almost mumbled reply, and then her mind's racing again with thoughts and doubts.

Silver's the enemy, which is something that he himself admits. What's to prevent him from just capturing her right now?

And so, as the seconds go on by, she's blindly touching and feeling the area around her, almost jolting in surprise when she's able to latch her fingers around a small handle. This could be a door out of here; she could go by herself, and, before the agents could find Kamon, bring him out herself.

Or, she could stay here and choose to place her trust in Silver, who she hardly knows.

* * *

><p><strong>[Choose:<strong>

**Option 1: Leave**

**Option 2: Stay]**

* * *

><p>AN

Alright, this is terribly short for the three month hiatus this thing went on for, but I really couldn't figure out how to write alternate routes without seeming stupid, so I guess I'll write the main route (or for however long there is one) in this story, while the alternate routes will be in a different fic? I guess? I'll tell you guys if it's written.

I'm sorry if this seems rushed, but I'm kind of going through of some hard times, and I'm sorry that you guys have to put up with this. I kind of really want this to be my first official finished fanfiction series (man that sounds really bad, considering I've tried to write so many before this), and then maybe a year later, I'll come back and cringe at this and rewrite it again.

I am so sorry.

Just

I'm going to leave this here

and cry

goodbye


End file.
